ܡܪܕܙܘܒܓ mrdzwbg asparagus
Allotropes: ܡܲܪܨܘܼܒܲܓ mrṣwbg marṣuḇag; ܡܪܛܫܘܩ mrṭšwq; ܡܪܛܫܡ mrṭšm
MP *mārčōbag, NP mārčōba asparagus, a kind of grass, so called from its resemblance to a snake (Steingass 1139); MP, NP mār snake; Gignoux (personal communication) suggests that the Ir. word for asparagus may be explained as “‘bâton (contre) les serpents’, car l'asperge ressemble à un bâton”. In NP the asparagus is also called mārgiyāh (Steingass 1140). As regards the Syr. renderings of Ir. /č/ see § 11.3.4. The allotrope mrṭšm shows a final -m that is probably a wrong spelling for -q; in mrṭšwq the final sequence -wq may be a simplification of -wbq, or may correspond to MP -bag with the rendering of MP internal /b/ through Syr. w, as sometimes happens: further examples in § 11.3.1 ● mrdzwbg BB 1156n 18; mrṣwbg BB 177, 12; mrṭšwq Cast; mrṭšm BB 1156 n 18 ◆ LS 403b, 404b, 405b; cf. Löw 53