by Brian Barratt
Many words came into English from foreign languages. In past centuries, this happened when something new was discovered in a distant land and brought home. Thus we have the fruit named tomato and the vegetable named potato.
Originally tomate in English, the name was borrowed in about 1600 from Portuguese and Spanish. The original name was tomatl in Nahuatl, spoken in Mexico and Central America. It was the language of the Aztecs.
Potato arrived in our language in about 1565. It was adapted from Spanish patata and had its origin in the Carib language of Haiti as batata, sweet potato. It is also related to Spanish papa, potato, which came from Quechua, the language spoken by the Incas.
The tomato was also called the Apple of Love. We find some helpful notes in the 1636 edition of John Gerard’s The Historie of Plants:
The Names. The Apple of Love is called in Latinae Pomum Aureum, Poma Amoris, and Lycopersicum: of some, Glaucium. In English, Apples of Love, and Golden Apples: in French Pommes d’amour. Howbeit there be other golden Apples whereof the Poëts doe fable, growing in the Garden of the daughters of Hesperus, which a Dragon was appointed to keep, who, as they fable, was killed by Hercules.
The Vertues. …In Spaine, and those hot Regions they use to eate the Apples prepared and boiled with pepper, salt and oyle: but they yeeld very little nourishment to the body, and the same naught and corrupt. Likewise they doe eate the Apples with oile, vinegre and pepper mixed together for a sauce to their meat, even as we in these cold countries doe Mustard.
Of potatoes, he wrote:
The Place. The Potato’s grow in India, Barbarie, Spaine and other hot regions; of which I planted divers roots (which I bought at the Exchange in London) in my garden, where they flourished until winter, at which time they perished and rotted.
The Vertues. …The Potatoe roots are among the Spaniards, Italians, Indians, and many other nations, ordinarie and common meat; which no doubt are of mighty and nourishing parts, and doe strengthen and comfort nature; whose nutriment is as it were a mean between flesh and fruit, but somewhat windie; yet being roasted in the embers they lose much of their windienesse, especially being eaten sopped in wine.
Fascinating, isn’t it? Two items we eat nearly every day bring us in touch with the languages of the Aztecs and Incas, and also the English of bygone centuries. It goes to show, too, that there’s been a problem with the apostrophe since it first appeared in English.
(This first appeared in Bonzer! no. 49 but I thought it deserved another airing.)
© Brian Barratt
This entry was posted by bbarratt on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Reflection.
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