C13: from earlier smalache, from smalsmall + ache wild celery, from Old French, from Latin apium
wild celery in British English
noun
a strongly scented umbelliferous plant, Apium graveolens, of temperate regions: the ancestor of cultivated celery
Archaic name: smallage
smallage in American English
(ˈsmɔlɪdʒ)
noun
the celery, Apium graveolens, esp. in its wild state
Word origin
[1250–1300; ME smalege, smalache, equiv. to smalesmall + ache parsley ‹ OF ‹ L apium celery, parsley]This word is first recorded in the period 1250–1300. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: clear, drift, face, quarter, touch