Jessamy
/ˈdʒɛs.ə.mi/noun
A jasmine plant or flower, especially the fragrant white-flowered shrub.
Did you know?Jessamy comes through a long chain of borrowing from Persian *yasamin* via Arabic, Persian, and Old French forms, showing how a single fragrant flower carried its name across the medieval world.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Iranian
PIr
*yāsamin-
“a fragrant jasmine flower”
Persian
Persian
yāsamīn
“jasmine”
Arabic
Arabic
yāsamīn
“jasmine”
Old French
OF
jessamine
“jasmine”
16th–17th Century
English
jessamy / jessamine
“jasmine; the jasmine plant or flower”
Modern English
English
jessamy
“a poetic or dialectal form referring to jasmine”