ἄχυ <Semitic?; Roman period>
👉 ἄχυ – a name used in Arabia for ‘a kind of cassia’ (Dsc. 1.13).
⚠ Dsc. 1.13: κασσίας δέ ἐστι πλείονα εἴδη περὶ τὴν ἀρωματοφόρον ᾿Αραβίαν γεννώμενα· ἔχει δὲ ῥάβδον παχύφλοιον, φύλλα δὲ ὡς πεπέρεως. ἐκλέγου δὲ τὴν ἔγκιρρον, εὔχρουν, κοραλλίζουσαν, στενήν, λείαν, μακρὰν καὶ παχεῖαν τοῖς συριγγίοις, δηκτικὴν ἐν τῇ γεύσει καὶ στύφουσαν μετὰ ποσῆς πυρώσεως, ἀρωματίζουσαν, οἰνίζουσαν τῇ ὀσμῇ. ἡ δὲ τοιαύτη ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἄχυ καλεῖται, δαφνῖτις δὲ προσαγορεύεται ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν ᾿Αλεξανδρείᾳ ἐμπόρων. – “There are many kinds of cassia growing up and down spice-bearing Arabia. It has thick-barked shoots and leaves like those of the pepper. Choose it pale-yellow, healthy looking, resembling coral, narrow, smooth, long and thick-quilled, pungent in taste and astringent, somewhat burning, spicy, and smelling of wine. This kind of cassia is called by the locals achy and by the merchants in Alexandria daphnitis.” (trans. L.Y. Beck).
🅔 Without etymology. It is semantically unlikely that ἄχυ is connected to Biblical Hebrew ʾāḥû ‘a marsh plant (grass, reed or sedge)’; cf. ἄχι.
📖 Ref.: cf. Muss-Arnolt 1892: 116, n. 11.