Saturday 27 October 2012

فستق peanut

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Etymology of Arabic words: the word فستق
(fustuk) means pistachio or peanut and two languages seem to be rivals as the origin of this word i.e. The ancient Greek and ancient Persian. According to BABINIOTIS Dictionary, there is the greek word πιστάκη (pistaki) which means “pistachio tree”, and the word πιστάκιον (pistakion) which is the diminutive of the word πιστάκη and means pistachio/peanut, explaining that it is a loan word from unknown origin as it happens with the Persian word “pista”. On the other hand the....
Wictionary for the word pistachio:
From Italian pistacchio, from Latin pistacium (“pistachio”), from Ancient Greek πιστάκιον (pistakion), from πιστάκη (pistakē, “pistachio tree”), of Iranian origin; compare Kurdish pisteq, fisteq, modern Persian پسته (pista).
And, Wictionary for the word fustic:
Middle English, fustik; derived from Old French, fustoc; derived from Arabic, فستق (fustuq, “pistachio”); derived from Persian, فستق (fustuq, “pistachio”).

See also the followig:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistachio
and
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscurides