ONLINE
ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY
- 1771, from Spanish or American Sp. oregano, from L. origanus, origanum, from Gk. oreiganon, from oros "mountain" (see oread) + ganos "brightness, ornament." The older form of the word in English was the Latin-derived origanum (mid-13c.), also origan (early 15c.). In Europe, the dried leaves of wild marjoram; in America, a different, and more pungent, shrub.
WIKIPEDIA
Oregano is the anglicised
form of the Italian word origano, or possibly of the medieval
Latin organum; this latter is used in at least one Old
English work. Both were drawn from the Classical
Latin term origanum, which probably referred specifically
to sweet marjoram,
and was itself a derivation from the Greek
ὀρίγανον (origanon), which
simply referred to "an acrid herb".[13][14]
The etymology of the Greek term is often given as oros ὄρος
"mountain" + the verb ganousthai γανοῦσθαι
"delight in", but the Oxford English Dictionary
notes it is quite likely a loanword from an unknown North African
language.[15]
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