^"Veb'-.s^s""' }         Orthography  of  Asaf^tida.  5 1 
has,  at  my  request,  investigated  the  subject.      His  conclusion  is 
.  )  T ... 
that  the  etymology  from  the  Arabic  ^^-U)  dsd  is  altogether  the  most 
satisfactory,  as  the  derivation  from  laser  appears  to  him  to  be  too  far 
fetched.  This  gains  additional  plausibility  from  the  well  known  fact 
that  the  school  of  Salerno  obtained  much  of  its  erudition  from  the 
Arabic  physicians.  The  writings  of  Rhazes  and  Avenrois  enumerates 
asafoetida  and  Avicenna  mentions  both  the  sweet  and  the  stinking  asa. 
A  third  etymology  is  given  by  Fluckiger  in  his  Pharmakognosie 
des  Pfian%enre'iches^'  Berlin,  1867.  He  deems  it  probable  that  our 
asa  and  the  Chinese  awei  both  originated  from  the  word  angu%eh^  or 
ungoo-zeh^  as  the  Dispensatory  represents  it,  the  modern  Persian  name 
of  the  plant  furnishing  the  drug.  It  will  be  noted  that  all  the  roots 
so  far  enumerated  contain  only  a  single  sibilant  consonant. 
The  fourth  and  last  source,  which   the  writer  has  found  only  in 
"Chambers'  Encyclopaedia,"  is  from  a  Persian  woi d,  1a Cj  asa,  signify- 
ing staff.  The  chief  motive  for  offering  this  seems  to  be  that  it  is 
synonymous  with  the  Greek  pdpdr^g  and  the  Latin  ferula^  both  of  which 
refer  to  the  upright  stalk  of  the  plant.  This  is  evidently  a  marked 
characteristic,  as  even  its  present  name  in  the  Aralo-Caspian  territory 
is  stinking  reed  (Keurijk-Kurai).  "  Chambers'  Encyclopaedia  "  spells 
assafoetida  and  renders  the  above  Persian  word  into  English  characters 
as  assa.  On  the  other  hand,  "  Chambers'  Etymological  Dictionary," 
emanating  from  the  same  firm  in  1869,  edited  by  James  Donald,  only 
mentions  assa  and  refers  to  asafcetida.  Furthermore,  "  Duncan  Forbes' 
Persian  Grammar  and  Vocabulary  "  represents  the  word  in  English 
letters  by  asa.  Again,  '^Catafago's  Arabic  Dictionary  "  contains  the 
same  word,  and  renders  it  likewise  as  asa^  with  a  peculiar  guttural 
sound  to  the  first  vowel. 
Although  the  authorities  in  English  are  divided  on  the  orthography  of 
asafoetida,  it  will  be  found  that  the  majority  favors  the  use  of  a  single 
consonant,  provided,  of  course,  that  those  are  excluded  who  follow 
the  Pharmacopoeias  simply  because  they  are  the  accepted  standard. 
''Webster's  Dictionary"  merely  enumerates  assafoetida  and  refers  to  asa- 
foetida. "  Johnson's  Dictionary,"  by  Dr.  R.  G.  Latham,  "  Sheridan^s 
Dictionary,"  and  very  many  others  give  only  the  form  asa.  "  Dunglison's 
Medical  Dictionary"  gives  asafoetida,  and  following  it  as  a  synonym 
assafoetida,  in  support  of  which  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  rs 
