gum Senegal

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a variety of gum arabic historically exported from Senegal and obtained from acacia trees

   Printers dissolved gum Senegal in water to thicken colors for textile work.

Gum plus the place name Senegal, because the commodity was exported from the Senegal region of West Africa. Historical dictionaries define gum Senegal as a gum resembling gum arabic from the country around the Senegal River. Adam Smith's gum-senega is a shortened historical spelling, not the medicinal senega root.

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