Asafoetida

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /asəˈfÉ›tɪdÉ™/

Alternative forms

• assafoetida, assa-fætida

Origin

From Medieval Latin asafoetida, from Persian ازا
آزا (azā, āzā, "mastic") + Latin foetida, feminine of foetidus ("bad-smelling").

Full definition of asafoetida

Noun

1. A resinous gum from the stem and roots of a wild fennel (), having a strong, unpleasant smell, with culinary and medical uses. from 14th c.
• 1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, II:Nigh Whormoot are Duzgun, Laztan-De, and other Townes, where is got the best Assa-Fætida through all the Orient: the tree is like our brier in height, the leaves resemble Fig leaves, the root the Radish: the vertue had need be much, it stincks so odiously.
• 1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah, Dover 1964, p. 54:half-a-dozen huge bread pills, dipped in a solution of aloes or cinnamon water, flavoured with assafÅ“tida, which in the case of the dyspeptic rich often suffice ....
• 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:The letter she sent me stank of assafoetida or devil’s dung. I was charmed.