A plant in the parsley family whose aromatic seeds are used as a spice in cooking and baking.
From Arabic karawiyā, possibly derived from Greek karon. The word entered Medieval Latin as carvi through Arabic botanical and culinary texts, then passed into Old French as carvi. Middle English adopted it as caraway in the 14th century, when the spice became popular in European cuisine through Middle Eastern trade.
This distinctive spice name shows how medieval European cooks learned about exotic flavors through Arabic cuisine! The seeds were so valued in Arabic cooking that when Europeans discovered them, they kept the Arabic name rather than creating their own term.
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