asafetida
\as-uh-FET-i-duh\
noun
1. a soft, brown, lumpy gum resin having a bitter, acrid taste and an obnoxious odor, obtained from the roots of several Near Eastern plants belonging to the genus Ferula, of the parsley family: formerly used in medicine as a carminative and antispasmodic. Also, asafoetida, asfetida.
Quotes
Roses and electric shocks, the khaki of Deltas and a whiff of asafoetida—wedded indissolubly before the child can speak. But wordless conditioning is crude and wholesale...
-- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932
Origin
Asafetida comes from the Medieval Latin term asafoetida, which in turn is related to the Persian term āzā, meaning "mastic; gum."
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