parsnip
(ˈpɑːsnɪp)
Forms: α. 4 passenep, 4–6 pasnepe, 5 pastnep, 5–6 pasnep, 6 pasneppe. β. 6 parsnepe, -neppe, -nebb, parsenep, persnepe, perseneppe, 7 parsenip, parsneip, 8 parsneep, 6– parsnep, parsnip.
[Corrupted from ME. passenep, pasnep(e, ultimately repr. L. pastināca ‘parsnip’, a name connected with pastināre to dig and trench the ground, pastinum a two-pronged digging-fork. Thence OHG. pastinak, -naga, Ger. pastinak, -nake, Du. pastinak; in It. pastinaca, OF. pasnaie, panaie, also pasnaise, panaise, mod.F. panais. The ME. form may have been derived from OF. pasnaie, with the second syllable changed to nep, after ME. *nêp (in 15th c. nep, nepe, neppe):—OE. nǽp turnip, ad. L. nāpus, the parsnip being considered a kind of nepe. Cf. the later word turnep, turnip.
Other (mostly 16th c.) French forms were pastenée, pastenaye, also the deriv. forms pastenade, -tinade, -tonade, pastenague, -aque, -aille; but these were too late to affect the Engl. word. The OE. Glossaries render pastinaca, ‘feldmora, walhmore, wealmora, more’, in 12th c. ‘walmore’.]
1. a. A biennial umbelliferous plant (Pastinaca sativa), a native of Europe and part of Asia, having pinnate leaves, yellow flowers, and a pale yellow root which in the cultivated variety is fleshy, sweet, and nutritious, and has been used from ancient times as a culinary vegetable; a kind of beer and a wine are also locally made from it. Hence, the root or edible part of this plant. Also extended to the genus Pastinaca.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxxvii. (MS. Bodl.) lf. 225 b/2 Eueriche herb wiþ a rote of meche norissching haþ seede þat is nouȝt norisschinge: as it fareþ in Pasnepis and in rapis. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 107 Þe persel, þe passenep, poretes to preue. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. ix 56 Also this mone is sowyng of pasnepe. a 1450 Stockh. Med. MS. 95 Pastnepys erroles. 1530 Palsgr. 252/1 Pasneppe an herbe. 1533 Elyot Cast Helthe (1539) 25 Parsnepes and carettes. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 138 b, Of Persnepes. 1570 Levins Manip. 140/42 A parsnip, pastinaca. 1594 R. Ashley tr. Loys le Roy 28 Leekes, chibols, carrets, parsnebbs. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria 51 Parsnep..is by some thought more nourishing than the Turnep. 1762 Gentl. Mag. 261 To sow parsneps in the open fields. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 189 The Parsnip is..extensively cultivated in Jersey and Guernsey for feeding milch cows. |
b. Prov. fine (fair, soft) words butter no parsnips (see also
butter v. 1 c).
| a 1625 Fletcher Woman's Prize i. iii, I shall rise again, if there be truth In eggs, and butter'd parsnips. 1639 Clarke Paroemiologia 12 Faire words butter noe parsnips, verba non alunt familiam. 1797 G. Colman Heir at Law iii. iii, Business is business; and fine words, you know, butter no parsnips. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. xii, I often tell 'em how wrong folks are to say that soft words butter no parsnips, and hard words break no bones. |
c. In various
colloq. or slang expressions:
before you can say parsnips, very rapidly, ‘in the twinkling of an eye’;
to look parsnips, to look sour or displeased;
I beg your parsnips,
joc. alteration of ‘I beg your pardon’.
| 1803 G. Colman John Bull ii. ii. 18 ‘You'll come back again,’ says she—‘That's what I will, before you can say, parsnips, my darling,’ says he. 1837 J. Hook Jack Brag II. iv. 167 ‘I'm delighted,’ said Jack, looking parsnips. 1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 131/2 Parsnip,..I beg ∼s (statt pardon) bitt' um Entschuldigung. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 297 Who said Christ is good?—I beg your parsnips, says Alf.—Is that a good Christ, says Bob Doran, to take away poor little Willy Dignam? |
2. Applied, with defining words, to various umbellifers, allied to or resembling the common parsnip; as
giant parsnip, ‘the genus
Heracleum’ (Miller
Plant-n. 1884);
meadow parsnip, (
a) cow-parsnip,
Heracleum Sphondylium; (
b) the N. American genus
Thaspium;
prickly parsnip,
sea parsnip, names for the genus
Echinophora,
esp. E. spinosa, growing on sea-shores, with prickly inflorescence;
rough parsnip, (
a) cow-parsnip,
Heracleum Sphondylium; (
b) the Opopanax plant,
Opopanax Chironium (
Pastinaca Opopanax);
Victorian parsnip,
Trachymene australis (Miller);
wild parsnip, the wild form of
Pastinaca sativa (see 1). See also
cow-parsnip,
water-parsnip.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 145 Spondilion..maye be called in Englishe Kow persnepe or middow persnepe. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1140 Thaspium, a genus of North American orthospermous Umbelliferæ... Its popular American name is Meadow Parsnip. |
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 321 Parsnep, *Prickly, Echinophora. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 76 Sphondilium..may be called in englishe Cow⁓persnepe or *rough Persnepe. |
| 1640 Parkinson Theatr. Bot. 1286 The *Sea Parsneppe. |
| 1538 Elyot, Staphilinus, *wylde parsnyppe. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 41 A Poultis of Wild Parsnips flowers, leaves, and stalks. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
parsnip beer,
parsnip culture,
parsnip pie,
parsnip seed,
parsnip soup,
parsnip tint,
parsnip wine;
parsnip-coloured adj.;
parsnip butterfly,
swallowtail = parsley butterfly s.v. parsley 3;
parsnip-chervil,
Anthriscus bulbosus (
Chærophyllum bulbosum), cultivated for its esculent root;
parsnip web-worm N. Amer., the larva of a moth,
Depressaria pastinacella, a pest of parsnips and related plants.
| 1897 Daily News 24 Mar. 7/3 Parsnip beer contained nearly 14 per cent. [of proof spirit]. |
| 1867 Amer. Naturalist I. 220 The Parsnip butterfly (Papilio Asterias) may be seen flying over the beds of parsnips. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 74/1 The Parsnip Chervil..is a native of France... In size and shape the root attains the dimensions of a small Dutch carrot. |
| 1617 Middleton Witch i. i. 65 I'll send you venison, custard, parsnip-pie. |
| 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery i. 25 (heading) Parsnip soup. Dissolve,..four ounces and a half of good butter,..and slice in directly two pounds of sweet tender parsnips. |
| 1942 E. O. Essig College Entomol. xxxi. 503 Papilio ajax Linn. Parsnip swallowtail. |
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 375 The pale or parsnip tint which belongs to nephritis. |
| 1888 Insect Life I. 94 The Parsnip Web-worm... We found this insect extremely common in the stems of Wild Parsnips. 1928 Metcalf & Flint Destructive & Useful Insects xvi. 509 Parsnip Webworm... The flower heads of parsnip and celery are webbed together with silk and devoured by small yellow, greenish or grayish caterpillars covered with small black spots. 1954 Borror & DeLong Introd. Study Insects xxvi. 536 The parsnip webworm..attacks parsnips, celery, and related plants. |
| 1834 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (1846) II. 417 March is the month for making parsnip wine. |