I would think that חזרת is indeed related to חזר, in the sense of "go around and around" (as in the expression חוזר על הפתחים, "to go around to people's doors [begging]"), since the leaves of חזרת wrap around the core.
Alex -
I like that. Kind of fits my comment on this post:
http://www.balashon.com/2006/11/...a-and-
chas.html
where I say that perhaps חסה comes from the root חסה - meaning "to cover".
... but iceberg lettuce isn't very bitter. What makes a lettuce lettuce enough to be חזרת?
Maybe try eating it for 210 years ...
I might be completely wrong, and I haven't yet had the chance to check any books, but I have a decent theory:
http://lonelymanofcake.wordpress.../03/25/hazeret/
lonelymanofcake - It's a very interesting and even attractive theory, but I think the burden of proof is on you in this case. The only thing I can say that might take away from the theory is that in the Mishna (Uktzim 1:2 - http://www.mechon-mamre.org/b/h/h6c.htm ) it talks about שורשי החזרים - which would indicate that the t / tav is not radical. Of course it could have dropped out of use over time, but we'd need proof of that as well.
It's not clear from the manuscripts of the Mishna whether that word is indeed חזרין. In MS Parma for example, it is written plene, and perhaps even with a vav. See for yourself: http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/ta...criptindex=3&
k=
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