garbanzo

Meaning

Noun

• An edible pulse, Cicer arietinum (species), of the family Leguminosae or Fabaceae and subfamilies Faboideae or Papilionoideae, with white or purple-blue flowers and small feathery leaves on both sides of the stem and pods containing two to three peas.
• A seed of this plant; the chickpea.

Origin

• From Spanish garbanzo, initially borrowed as garvance in the 17th c. and anglicized as calavance. The original garbanzo was re-established in the 19th c., primarily via American Spanish. from Old Spanish arvanço, which is of uncertain origin, presumably influenced by garroba and galbana, which is borrowed from Arabic جلبان. Other theories for the origin of garbanzo include the Basque compound and the Ancient Greek ἐρέβινθος.