طرخشقون

Where it comes from

From Middle Persian *tarrag-ī škōhān (literally “herb of the poor”), so called because it is rarely eaten other than in times of famine. The former word is known in Classical Persian تره (tarra, “herb”), the latter widespread in Middle Iranian but not continued into Classical Persian in the meaning “poor” though possibly identical to شکوه (šokuh, “pomp, magnificence; gravity, reverence”), شکوه (šikūh, “fear, terror”), شکوخ (šokux, šekux, “slip, stumble, fall”), exposing the plural ending ـان (-ân). The variant forms of the phytonym commencing with طَلـ (ṭal-) relate to تلخ (talx, “bitter”), endings in ـق (-q) to چکوک (čakuk, “purslane”), which is not a known word anymore. The combined plant-name is in Neo-Persian barely recorded as تلخچکوک (talx-čakuk), تلخجکوک (talx-jakuk), تلخچوک (talx-čuk), تلخجوک (talx-juk, “wild succory”), ousted by کاسنی (kâsni).