This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 7 December 2021. Cinnamon marjoram vs oregano a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus Cinnamomum.
Cinnamon is the name for several species of trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce. All are members of the genus Cinnamomum in the family Lauraceae. Only a few Cinnamomum species are grown commercially for spice. Latin and medieval French intermediate forms.
The name “cassia”, first recorded in late Old English from Latin, ultimately derives from the Hebrew word q’tsīʿāh, a form of the verb qātsaʿ, “to strip off bark”. Early Modern English also used the names canel and canella, similar to the current names of cinnamon in several other European languages, which are derived from the Latin word cannella, a diminutive of canna, “tube”, from the way the bark curls up as it dries. Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity. It was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BC, but those who reported that it had come from China had confused it with Cinnamomum cassia, a related species. Cinnamomum verum, which translates from Latin as “true cinnamon”, is native to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar. In Ancient Egypt, cinnamon was used to embalm mummies. From the Ptolemaic Kingdom onward, Ancient Egyptian recipes for kyphi, an aromatic used for burning, included cinnamon and cassia.
