 While folk etymology sometimes assumes the name is a mix of parsley and turnip, it actually comes from Middle English "pasnepe", alteration (influenced by "nep", turnip) of Old French "pasnaie" (now ) from Latin "pastinum," a kind of fork.The word's ending was changed to "-nip" by analogy with turnip because it was mistakenly assumed to be a kind of turnip.The wild parsnip from which the modern cultivated varieties were derived is a plant of dry rough grassland and waste places, particularly on chalk and limestone soils.