Mid 16th century (in an earlier sense). From classical Latin zea emmer wheat (Pliny), in post-classical Latin also one-grained wheat from ancient Greek ζειά (in Hellenistic Greek also ζεά) emmer wheat, in Hellenistic Greek also one-grained wheat, probably from the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit yava grain, barley, Avestan yauua grain, Lithuanian javas grain, cereal.