Etymology
Tahini is a loanword from Arabic: طحينة, or more accurately ṭaḥīnīa طحينية, is derived from the root ط ح ن Ṭ-Ḥ-N which as a verb طحن ṭaḥan means "to grind", the same root as طحين, "flour" in some dialects.
The standard Arabic spelling طحينة is transliterated properly as ṭaḥīnah. The last syllable is pronounced, depending on the region where the speaker is from. In Levantine Arabic dialects, however, the last syllable is generally pronounced . Since most 19th and early 20th century Middle Eastern immigrants to English-speaking countries were Christians from Syria and Lebanon, this may be the origin of the English usage of the final /i/.
The word "tahini" appears in English by the late 1930s.
Plain, unprocessed sesame paste with no added ingredients is sometimes known as "raw tahini".
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