'assafoetida' originates from New Latin 'asa foetida' — a compound formed from 'asa' (from Persian 'anghuzeh', meaning 'resin') and Latin 'foetida' (from 'foetidus', meaning 'foul-smelling').

'assafoetida' passed into European botanical and medical vocabulary as Medieval/Modern Latin 'asa foetida' (literally 'fetid resin') and entered English usage from that Latin form; the spelling appears in English from the 16th–17th centuries in forms such as 'asafoetida' and 'assafoetida'.

Initially it meant 'fetid resin' in a general medicinal/botanical sense; over time the term retained that core idea but became specialized to denote the specific spice/resin and its culinary uses.