Etymology

marzipan

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Today it means: A confection made from a paste of almonds, sugar and egg white as a binder. Full definition →

German Marzipan ← Italian marzapane ← Venetan marzapane
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The story

  1. Arabic · derived fromمَرْطَبَان“spice box”
  2. Venetan · derived frommarzapane
  3. Italian · derived frommarzapane
  4. German · borrowed fromMarzipan
  5. English todaymarzipan

Borrowed from German Marzipan, from Italian marzapane, Venetan marzapane. Believed to be, with influence from pane (“bread”), derived from Arabic مَرْطَبَان (marṭabān, “spice box”) which comes from the name of a Burmese port known for its spice exports, Martaban, now called in Burmese မုတ္ထမ (muthta.ma.).

Words from the same roots

GermanMarzipan all →

persipan

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.