In the time of Old English, the word petersilie was the only term used to refer to parsley. However, when the Normans invaded England, they brought with them the Old French word, peresil. These terms coexisted for a while, evolving in spelling over time until our current word parsley emerged. Both the Old French and Old English nouns can be traced back to the Latin petroselinium, which is a fitting combination of the words petros meaning “rock”, and selinon meaning “celery”. The origins of these roots are uncertain, but they likely stem from a Pre-Greek language. According to Google NGrams, the usage of the word parsley surged in the 1960s, reached its peak in the 1980s, and has been on the decline since then.
