رعي الحمام

Where it comes from

A science translation calque of Classical Syriac ܪܥܝܐ ܕܝܘܢܐ (reʿyā də-yawnē), which is depending on the meaning of the first word “meadow of doves”, “kit of doves”, “food of doves”, apparently the Arabic translators took the “fodder” meaning as this is what Arabic رِعْي (riʕy) means—unless the Arabic phytonym is a loanblend even—, while the Syriac translators took the other meanings, misinterpreting Ancient Greek περῐστερεών (perĭstereṓn), περῐστεριών (perĭsteriṓn), περῐστέριον (perĭstérion, “vervain”) as the same word as περῐστερεών (perĭstereṓn, “dovecote”), both being from περῐστερᾱ́ (perĭsterā́, “pigeon”). Spread from the materia medica into general use, but modernly half of the time deformed as رِجْل الْحَمَام (rijl al-ḥamām) or سَاق الْحَمَام (sāq al-ḥamām) due to the alienness of the first word.