Plural of cicely; a plant of the parsley family, also called sweet cicely, used as an herb and sweetener.
From Middle English 'cicely', from Greek 'seselis' or Latin 'seseli'. The plant has been used since medieval times as both food and medicine.
Sweet cicely was medieval Europe's stevia—people chewed the anise-flavored leaves and roots to sweeten foods without sugar, which was incredibly rare and expensive.
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