Alfalfa - History

History

A book on agriculture by the Roman writer Palladius, dated 4th century AD, includes a section about alfalfa. Palladius says: "One sow-down lasts ten years. The crop may be cut four or six times a year.... An acre of it is abundantly sufficient for three horses all the year.... It may be given to cattle, but new provender is at first to be administered very sparingly, because it bloats up the cattle." Palladius called alfalfa "medica", a name that referred to the Medes, a people who lived in ancient Iran. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed, probably correctly, that the alfalfa plant came from the Medes land (in today's Iran). (The ancient Greeks and Romans also used the name medica to mean a citron fruit, once again because it was believed to have come from the Medes land). The ancient Roman name medica is the root of the modern scientific name for the alfalfa genus, Medicago. Despite the report in Palladius and in some other Roman and ancient Greek writers, there is little evidence that alfalfa was in widespread use in the Mediterranean region in those days.

The 13th century Arabic dictionary Lisan al-Arab says that "al-fiṣfiṣa" (alfalfa) is cultivated as an animal feed and consumed in both fresh and dried form. In medieval Spain, the Arabic name "al-fisfisa" mutated into the Spanish name "alfalfa". Alfalfa in medieval Spain was cultivated as fodder for horses and had a reputation as the best fodder for them. In the 16th century, Spanish colonizers introduced alfalfa to the Americas as fodder for their horses. The English name "alfalfa" dates from mid-19th century far-west USA, from the Spanish. Alfalfa seeds were imported to California from Chile in the 1850s. That was the beginning of a rapid and extensive introduction of the crop over the western US States. In the North American colonies of the eastern US back in the 18th century it was called "lucerne" and lots of trials at growing it were made, but generally without getting satisfactory results. Relatively very little alfalfa is grown in the eastern US still today. Today in France and Germany, and also in Britain and Australia, alfalfa is usually called "lucerne" | "luzerne", a word that arose in French in the 16th century. Since North and South America now produce a large part of the world's output, the word "alfalfa" has been slowly entering into other languages besides English and Spanish.