Meaning

noun of southern Europe; similar to but smaller than the adder

noun cobra used by the Pharaohs as a symbol of their power over life and death

originFrom Middle English aspe (aspen (in compounds)), from Old English æspe (æspan (in compounds)), from Proto-West Germanic *aspu, from Proto-Germanic *aspō, from Proto-Indo-European *Hosp-. See also Dutch esp, German Espe, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål asp, Norwegian Nynorsk osp; also Welsh aethnen, Latin abiēs (“fir”), Latvian apse, Polish osa, Old Armenian ոփի (opʻi, “poplar”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0