garlic

Coming from the Middle English garlek, garlic breaks down into two roots that might be surprising. The latter part — lec in West Saxon, leac in Mercian — is of the same origin as our word leek, and which back in the day could mean “onion, leek or garlic.” The former part means “spear,” presumably because the leaves of the plant are shaped like a spear, and is the same source from which we get the name of the fish — it used to be garfish, literally “spearfish” — as well as the name Edgar, literally “prosperity spear” or “wealthy spear” — and yes, because I happened to have mentioned Final Fantasy in the previous entry, I am wondering if it’s a coincidence that Final Fantasy VI features a spear-wielding character named Edgar who is a wealthy king. Merriam-Webster even puts the gar root closer to gore but in the sense of “a triangular piece of land,” related because a speartip is also triangular in shape, I’m guessing.