Etymology

sebesten

S1E1B3E1S1T1E1N1

Today it means: A medium-sized deciduous tree of species Cordia myxa or, less often, Cordia latifolia, Cordia sebestena, or other species in the genus Cordia, the wood of which is used for furniture and musical instruments. Full definition →

Medieval Latin sebesten ← Arabic سِبِسْتَان ← Persian سگپستان
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The story

  1. Persian · derived fromسگپستان
  2. Arabic · derived fromسِبِسْتَان
  3. Medieval Latin · learned borrowing fromsebesten
  4. English todaysebesten

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin sebesten, from Arabic سِبِسْتَان (sibistān), from Persian سگپستان (sag-pestân, literally “dog teat”), from سگ (sag, “dog”) + پستان (pestân, “teat”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.