Etymology of tarragon, estragon (Fr)

Tarragon (estragon) is a plant whose aromatic leaves are used for flavoring. The word comes from the Byzantine* Greek tarchon. from the Arabic tarhun, from the Greek drakontion (dragonwort), from the Greek drakon (dragon, snake).

French: estragon
Spanish: taragona
Italian: targone
Greek: estragon [Gr: εστραγκόν; loanword, reborrowing]

* The term Byzantine Empire is falsely used by some to describe the Roman Empire from the 4th to 15th century.

OED
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