Allium cepa is the Latin name for the common onion. The origin of the word "Allium" is not known. In classical Latin, garlic was named allium, which is still the botanical genus name for garlic and related plants (leek, shallot, onion, bear’s garlic and chives). The only Indo-European cognate is Old Greek aglis. There have been attempts to link that word to the Celtic root all- "burning, pungent." The origin of the late Latin word cepula (diminutive form of cepa) is unclear. The common name, onion, comes from the Latin word unio for "single," or "one," because the onion plant produces a single bulb, unlike its cousin, the garlic, that produces many small bulbs. The name also describes the onion bulb when cut down the middle; it is a union (also from unio) of many separate, concentrically arranged layers.¹

 

Onion has been used as a food source for almost as long as humans have been keeping written records. It is presumed that our predecessors discovered and started eating wild onions very early—long before farming or even writing was invented. Allium cepa has been a staple of the Eurasian diet since prehistoric times, as food remnants found in paleolithic caves have shown. It has been used as a food for thousands of years by all strata of society, from peasant to royalty. It is one of the most adaptable vegetables known to humankind and a great creator of flavors in our daily meals. Because onions are small and their tissues leave little or no trace, there is no conclusive opinion about the exact location and time of their birth. Many botanists, archaeologists, and food historians believe onions originated in central Asia. Other research suggests that onions were first grown in Iran and West Pakistan.²

 

Most researchers agree that the onion has been cultivated for 5000 years or more. Since onions grew wild in various regions, they were probably consumed for thousands of years and domesticated simultaneously all over the world. Onions may be one of the earliest cultivated crops because they were less perishable than other foods of the time, were transportable, were easy to grow and could be grown in a variety of soils and climates. In addition, the onion was useful for sustaining human life. Onions prevented thirst and could be dried and preserved for later consumption when food might be scarce.

 

While the place and time of the onion's origin are still a mystery, there are many documents, from very early times, which describe its importance as a food and its use in art, medicine and mummification. Onions grew in Chinese gardens as early as 5000 years ago, and they are referenced in some of the oldest Vedic writings from India. In Egypt, onions can be traced back to 3500 BC. There is evidence that the Sumerians were growing onions as early as 2500 BC. One Sumerian text dated to about 2500 BC tells of someone plowing over the city governor's onion patch.

 

Authorities throughout the ancient world recommended onion for a variety of health problems. Several parts of the plant have a place in the traditional medicines. The seeds of onion have been used to increase semen and relieve dental worms and urinary diseases. The stalks of onion are a source of Vitamin A, thiamin and ascorbic acid. The bulbs were used in a multitude of ways. Onions are used in both tender and mature stages.

 

Onions were highly regarded as a symbol of the universe by the ancient Egyptians, and many beliefs were associated with them. The Egyptians saw eternal life in the anatomy of the onion because of its circle-within-a-circle structure. Paintings of onions appear on the inner walls of the pyramids and in the tombs of both the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom. Not only did they use them as currency to pay the workers who built the pyramids, but they also placed them in the tombs of kings, such as Tutankhamen, as a symbol of eternity. In mummies, onions have frequently been found in the pelvic regions of the body, in the thorax, flattened against the ears and in front of the collapsed eyes. Flowering onions have been found on the chest, and onions have been found attached to the soles of the feet and along the legs. King Ramses IV, who died in 1160 BC, was entombed with onions in his eye sockets. Frequently, a priest is pictured holding onions in his hand or onions are found covering an altar with a bundle of their leaves or roots. The onion is mentioned as a funeral offering and onions are depicted on the banquet tables of the great feasts, both large, peeled onions and slender, immature ones. They were shown upon the altars of the gods. Onion seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs dated to 3200 BC.

 

Some Egyptologists theorize that onions may have been used because it was believed that their strong scent and/or magical powers would prompt the dead to breathe again. Other Egyptologists believe it was because onions were known for their strong antiseptic qualities. The physicians of ancient Egypt prescribed onions in various diseases. Egyptians numbered over 8000 onion-alleviated ailments.

 

Onions are noted in the Bible in 1500 BC as one of the foods most longed for by the Israelites after leaving Egypt for the Promised Land. In Numbers 11:5, the children of Israel lament the meager desert diet enforced by the Exodus: "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic."³

 

In India as early as the sixth century BC, the medical treatise Charaka - Sanhita recognized various vegetables and spices to protect against various health problems as well provide cure from certain diseases. It acknowledged the onion as a diuretic, good for digestion, the heart, the eyes and the joints.

 

Onion has an ancient reputation as a curative agent, highly extolled by the schools of Galen and Hippocrates. The esteemed Greek physician Hippocrates prescribed onions as a diuretic, wound healer and pneumonia fighter in the 5th century BC and gave a comprehensive description of its medicinal properties.

 

Dioscorides, a Greek physician in the first century AD noted several medicinal uses of onions. The Greeks used onions to fortify athletes for the Olympic Games. Before competition, athletes would consume pounds of onions, drink onion juice and rub onions on their bodies. Athletes ate large quantities of onion because they thought it would lighten the balance of blood.

 

There are also details of the cultivation, use and history of onion in the 1st century AD, Natural History Compendium by Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder. Pliny catalogued the Roman beliefs about the efficacy of the onion to cure vision, induce sleep, and to heal mouth sores, dog bites, toothaches, dysentery and lumbago. The Romans cultivated onions in special gardens (cepinae) which had specialized gardeners (ceparii). The Romans ate onions regularly and carried them on journeys to their provinces in England and Germany. It is thought that they took onion north of the Alps.

 

Different cultivars of onion are listed in garden catalogs from the 9th century AD in the era of Charles the Great. But the onion became widespread as a crop in Europe only during the Middle Ages when it was one of three main vegetables of European cuisine along with beans and cabbage. In addition to serving as a food for both the poor and the wealthy, onions were prescribed medicinally to alleviate headaches, and for snakebites and hair loss to name a few. They were also used as rent payments and wedding gifts.

 

During medieval times much use was made of herbs to treat medical conditions. There was no such thing as double blind studies and scientific research to prove an herb's effectiveness and dosage level. People relied on word of mouth, folklore and old wives tales to guide them in the proper use of herbs.

 

It was believed that onion attracted and absorbed infectious matters and was usually hung in rooms to prevent illness. This belief in the absorptive power of the onion is still prevalent. It is reported that during the plague-epidemic in London, when the contagion spread everywhere, the owners of onion and garlic shops were the only persons who proved immune to the disease. Bunches were hung on doors to ward off the plague in medieval Europe as well as copiously consumed.

 

British folklorist James Napier noted: "When a youth, I remember the following story being told, and implicitly believed by all. There was once a certain king or nobleman who was in want of a physician, and two celebrated doctors applied. As both could not obtain the situation, they agreed among themselves that the one was to try to poison the other, and he who succeeded in overcoming the poison would thus be left free to fill the situation. They drew lots as to who should first take the poison. The first dose given was a stewed toad, but the party who took it immediately applied a poultice of peeled onions over his stomach, and thus abstracted all the poison of the toad. Two days after, the other doctor was given the onions to eat. He ate them, and died. It was generally believed that the poultice of peeled onions laid on the stomach, or underneath the armpits, would cure anyone who had taken poison."⁴

 

Christopher Columbus brought onions on his voyage to the New World and planted them in the West Indies where they naturalized. Their cultivation spread from there throughout the Western Hemisphere. As Europeans came to America, they used the naturalized onions they found here and also planted seeds they brought with them. Onion seed was a commodity often sent to the New World on sailing vessels. According to diaries of colonists, bulb onions were planted as soon as the Pilgrim fathers could clear the land in 1648. The Europeans also brought their beliefs about the vegetable—among them a tradition that an onion hanging over a doorway would absorb passing diseases and protect those inside.

 

The settlers soon found that strains of wild onions already grew throughout North America. Native American Indians used wild onions in a variety of ways, eating them raw or cooked, as a seasoning or as a vegetable. Such onions were also used in syrups, as poultices, as an ingredient in dyes and even as toys. Wild onion (A.sibiricum) was used extensively by Native North American people to treat stings and help relieve colds.⁵

 

Throughout the ages onion has been highly valued for its therapeutic properties. Folk medicine has used the onion for treatment of colds, cough, asthma, whooping cough, bronchitis, and other respiratory problems. Onion has been used to help loosen congestion in the lungs and expand the airways, to relieve excess gas and calm an upset stomach and to rid the digestive system of parasites. Onion has also been used to relieve earache, to remove warts and to draw pus from abscesses.

 

Onion use spread through civilizations along with belief and testimony to its healing properties. Traditional herbal use of onion persists into the 21st century as medical institutes are currently investigating the medicinal properties of onions. Modern scientific research supports many of the traditional uses for onion. Onion contains thiosulphinate, a compound that is effective in killing many common bacteria, including Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeriginosa, and Escherichia coli. This finding supports the folk use of onion to treat wounds and skin infections and possibly its use for an upset stomach.⁶

 

There have also been clinical studies on humans that show that both fresh onions and commercial onion extracts lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure and help prevent the formation of blood clots. Although these studies have been done on only a small number of people, they are consistently supported by additional data from animal and test-tube studies.

 

In 1990, scientists detected the presence of a compound in onion that partially blocks the development of inflammation. In addition, laboratory animals were protected against induced asthma with fresh onion juice. Humans with asthma have also shown reduced allergy-induced constriction of the airways when given an extract of onion. These findings support the traditional folk administration of onion to treat asthma and respiratory complaints.

 

Some test-tube and small animal studies suggest that onion oil can stop the growth of tumors. Whether these results are applicable to humans remains to be seen in the eyes of some researchers, but in a 1989 study done in China, people who ate large amounts of vegetables in the Allium family appeared to have a significantly reduced rate of stomach cancer.

 

Onion has also been shown to contain antioxidants, compounds that protect the body against free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that destabilize other molecules and are associated with a number of degenerative diseases.

 

The German Federal Health Agency's Commission E has approved onion as an antibacterial agent. The Commission concludes that it appears that onion is a healthful vegetable that may confer many medical benefits.⁷

 

Onions are listed in several modern herbals as remedies for a variety of health issues as well as an excellent food to include in the daily diet to maintain wellness. Raw and cooked onions, as well as poultices, syrups, and extracts made with onions are all recommended to aid a plethora of acute and serious health problems.

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¹ Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages, “Onion (Allium cepa L.),” www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/

Alli_cep.html, accessed 21 Apr. 2007.

² Some information in this paragraph and the next 12 paragraphs comes from the National Onion Association, “Bring on the Onions! About Onions: History," www.onions-usa.org/about/

history.asp, accessed 05/01/07.

³ The Bible, King James Version, Numbers 11:5.

⁴ James Napier, Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, The Gale Group, Inc, 2001. Found online at www.answers.com/topic/onion, accessed 16 Apr. 2007.

⁵ National Onion Association. "Bring On the Onions!" www.onions-usa.org, accessed 05 May 2007.

⁶ The source for this paragraph and the following three paragraphs was an article by Tish Davidson and Rebecca J. Frey, PhD, "Allium Cepa," www.answers.com/topic/allium-cepa-1, accessed 11 May 2007. One of the sources of their article was Andrew Chevallier’s Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants, London: Dorling Kindersley, 1996.

⁷ American Botanical Council, Expanded Commission E Online, "Herbal Medicine, Onion." Chapter: Chemistry and Pharmacology, www.herbalgram.org, accessed 23 April 2007.