sorghum n.

a cane-like grass also known as Indian millet, 1590s, from Modern Latin Sorghum, the genus name, from Italian sorgo "a tall cereal grass," probably from Medieval Latin surgum, suricum (12c.), perhaps a variant of Latin syricum "Syrian," as in Syricum (gramen) "(grass) of Syria," from Syria, which could have been a source of the plant or its grain to Italy in ancient times. The grass itself seems to have originated as a crop in East Africa.