Meaning

noun wood of a sumac

noun a shrub or tree of the genus Rhus (usually limited to the non-poisonous members of the genus)

originThe noun is derived from Middle English sumac, asimac, simak, sumak, symak (“portions of the shrub Rhus coriaria, chiefly used for medicinal purposes”), from Anglo-Norman sumak, symak, and Old French sumac, or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin sumach, sumac, from Arabic سُمَّاق (summāq), from Classical Syriac ܣܘܡܩܐ (summāqā, “red; sumac”). The English word is cognate with Italian sommaco,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0