spinach: [16] The ultimate origin of the word spinach is Persian aspanākh, which passed via Arabic isfināj, medieval Latin spinachia, and Spanish espinaca into Old French as espinache. Middle Dutch borrowed this as spinaetse, the probable source of English spinach. It has been speculated that the change of form from Arabic to Latin may have been partly motivated by the ‘spiny’ seeds of certain types of spinach.
spinach (n.)
c. 1400 (late 13c. as a surname), from Anglo-French spinache, Old French espinache (14c., Modern French épinard, from a form with a different suffix), from Old Provençal espinarc, which perhaps is via Catalan espinac, from Andalusian Arabic isbinakh, from Arabic isbanakh, from Persian aspanakh "spinach." But OED is not convinced the Middle Eastern words are native, and based on the plethora of Romanic forms pronounces the origin "doubtful."
Popeye, the spinach-eating superman, debuted in 1929. Old folk etymology connected the word with Latin spina (see spine) or with Medieval Latin Hispanicum olus. For pronunciation, see cabbage. In 1930s colloquial American English, it had a sense of "nonsense, rubbish," based on a famous "New Yorker" cartoon of Dec. 8, 1928. Related: spinaceous.
实用例句
1. Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.
据说吃菠菜能使人强壮.来自《简明英汉词典》
2. The spinach is shrivelled up.
菠菜蔫了.来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
3. You should eat such vegetables as carrot, celery and spinach.
你应该吃胡萝卜 、 芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜.来自辞典例句
4. The transacetylase system was also present in spinach leaves.
在菠菜叶片中也存在着转乙酰酶系统.来自辞典例句
5. Either you eat your spinach or you go without ice - cream.
