aubergine

Etymology

An unadapted borrowing from French aubergine, which came from Catalan albergínia, from Arabic اَلْبَاذِنْجَان (al-bāḏinjān, ‘the aubergine’), from Classical Persian بَادِنْجَان (bādinjān), from بَاتِنْگَان (bātingān), from Sanskrit वातिङ्गण (vātiṅgaṇa, ‘the plant that cures the wind’), from Dravidian, ultimately from Proto-Dravidian *waẓVtV. It is cognate with Malayalam വഴുതനങ്ങ (vaḻutanaṅṅa) and Hindi बैंगन (baiṅgan), and a doublet of brinjal, malidzano and melongene.