Etymograph

English

smallage

Smallage comes from Middle English smalache.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smalache1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1922smallage1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English smallage
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde: “Chop the smallage exceeding small and put it in…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smalacheWiktionary, English smallage
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1922smallageWiktionary, English smallage. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde: “Chop the smallage exceeding small and put it in…”

Formed from small + ache ‘celery, parsley’

Proto-Germanic *smalaz

Proto-West Germanic *smal

Old English smæl ‘narrow’

Middle English smal ‘small’

English small

Middle English aken ‘to ache, to hurt’

English ache

Every English word from Middle English smalache

Today it means

noun Celery in its wild uncultivated form.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “smallage”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English smalache / smallage

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