Why did Linseed Become Flax?

Linseed or Flaxseed

If you have ever wondered why the same small brown, or sometimes yellow, seed is sometimes called flaxseed and, other times, linseed, you’re not alone. They both come from the same plant, Linum usitatissimum, yet the names swap around in English depending on whether we are talking about food, farming or fabric.  The explanation lies deep in the development of our English language and in the long history of flax as one of humanity’s oldest crops.

The plant Linum usitatissimum, with its typical blue flowers and small oil seeds, gives us the food that gets called both linseed and flaxseed, and this can confuse people. These two words for the same thing have been swapping around for thousands of years during the development of the English language.

Lin

Most European languages use the “lin” sound. This is very ancient and goes back to the Proto-Indo-European language of the late Neolithic to early Bronze Age, approximately 4000–2500 BCE. The earliest form is in ancient Greek, “linon,” and was later spread and standardised by the Romans. Lin is considered to refer both to the plant grown for fibres to weave into fabric, as in linen, and also to the seeds. From the “lin” root, we get words such as linseed in English, Lein in German, lin in French, semi di lino in Italian and linaza in Spanish.

Lin would have been the first linseed/flax term to get to the UK. Our Celtic-speaking ancestors and Romans established the use of “lin” and linseed in English and gave us many related words, such as line, as in fishing line, and linear.

Flax

“Flax” also has Proto-Indo-European origins. The word is thought to have been originally something like “pleks” and possibly related to words meaning plait, braid or twist fibres in early northern European, Germanic languages. This makes perfect sense because flax fibre from the earliest times was spun, which means twisting the strands, before being woven into cloth or made into fishing lines and nets. The fibres could also be further twisted to make strong rope.

In the early Germanic languages, the “p” sound changed to an “f” sound, and “pleks” became our modern  “flax”. Flax entered English when we were invaded by the Germanic language speakers, the Anglo-Saxons and later the Vikings. They brought us “flax” which referred both to the plant and its fibre; in Old English, flax was also the name for the fabric woven from it.

This twisting of fibres together gives us English words such as plait, complex and flex. The language carries the memory of the importance flax once had in people’s lives.

Lin again

The invasion of the Normans brought us French. This re-established “lin” and “linseed”, and linen for the fabric.  However, “flax” has remained the word used for the crop and fibre that goes into producing linen.

The American Invasion

Roll on to the twenty-first century and England has been invaded yet again, via the Internet this time and the English language is becoming more Americanized(!)  In the United States, the word flax or flaxseed is used for linseed grown for human consumption. This crisp single syllable is now a more common term here and across much of the English-speaking world.

In the UK, when the plant is grown as a crop for the seeds, it is called linseed, but when it is grown for the fibre used to make linen, it is called flax.

To sum it up

Whether you call it Linseed or Flax, adding some to your diet every day is probably one of the easiest ways to improve your health and feel great.