Bill, there is a noun 'asperges' (pron. ass-PER-geez) which is interesting. It is the name for the doodad which is used by a priest, bishop, cardinal, etc. to sprinkle holy water. If you have not actually seen this in use, you have probably at some time or other seen a picture in the newspaper or a magazine of someone blessing the fishing fleet, or the foxhounds, or something, and sprinkling it with the asperges. It's a metal rod (often silver) maybe 8 to 12 in. long, with a perforated bulbous head which is dipped in a small bucket of holy water and then waved to disperse it on something or someone.
The word comes from the Latin text of a verse of a Psalm: Asperges me Domine hyssopo et mundabor which the AV translates as Purge me O Lord with hyssop and I shall be clean. This was chanted during the Lavabo, the ritual washing of the hands by the priest in the Mass, and was transferred to the act of aspergation (using the asperges).
The word 'asparagus' came from "asperges" because of that vegetable's resemblance to the implement. One of the most roundabout derivations I know of.
