canaigre

canaigre (kuh-NAY-gree) - n., a large perennial dock (Rumex hymenosepalus) of the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico having a root rich in tannin.


Also called ganagra, wild rhubarb, Arizona dock, and tanner's dock -- the latter because it has been cultivated for said tannin for use in tanning leather. Related to rhubarb, and its ETA leaves stems can be eaten in much the same way. The word was adopted around 1870 from Mexican Spanish canaigre/cañaigre, variants of Spanish cañagria, from caña agria, sour cane, from caña, cane/reed (from Latin canna, reed, from Ancient Greek kánna, from Akkadian qanû, from Sumerian gi.na, reed) + agria, feminine singular of agrio, sour (from older form agro, used until the 17th century, from from Late Latin acrus, from Classical Latin acer/acrem, sharp/pungent, from Proto-Italic *akris, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱrós, sharp).


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---L.