1. Asphodel (n.) late 14c., from Latin Asphodelus, from Greek Asphodelos, also sphodelos, spodelos, "Asphodel, king's spear, plant of the lily kind," which is of unknown origin; "A substrate word, as is shown by the variants" [Beekes].Compare daffodil.It was the peculiar plant of the dead; and in Greek mythology and English poetic use it overspreads the Elysian meadows.