I just translated the etymology of the German word for potato, Kartoffel, for a friend, and thought some of you, too, would be interested.
From the Duden Etymology of German:
The country of origin of this cultivated plant, which belongs to the nightshade family, is South America. The Spanish brought the plant to Europe in the 16th century under two names, once under the name papa, which comes from the Qechua language of the Inca (a word that is found only in Spanish) and also under the name batata, patata. This latter word goes back to the native language spoken in Haiti and actually refers to the sweet potato, which is a member the climbing plant family and whose tubers are an important food source, especially in the tropics. (N.B. The sweet potato is largely unknown in Germany, therefore this description in the Duden.)
This word batata, patata moved from Spanish into several other European languages, e.g. Ital patata, Engl. potato, and (from English) Swed. potatis. Other European languages coined their own words for the potato that primarily relate to its tuberous roots. An old Italian word for the potato was tartufo, tartufolo. The word actually designates the edible truffle mushroom (from v. Latin *terrae tufer, Italic dialect from late Latin terrae tuber, literally "earth tuber".) The word came to designate the potato due to confusion between the subterranean tuberous body of the mushroom with the tubers of the potato. While in Italian the word tartufo has now receded in favor of the word patata, it continues to live on in the word Kartoffel in German (18th century, dissimilated from the older Tartuffel, Tartüffel).
Thank you, Ilka, for this, uh, delicious etymology.
Once historians were released from the bondage of writing about kings and generals and their foibles, many new ways to look at the subject were developed.
Larry Zuckerman’s The Potato examines ‘How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World.’ As one reviewer said, "It’s social history at its finest."
[quote author=Ilka link=board=etymology;num=1059081459;start=0#0 date=07/24/03 at 17:17:39][center]...[/center]This word batata, patata moved from Spanish into several other European languages, e.g. Ital patata, Engl. potato, and (from English) Swed. potatis. Other European languages coined their own words for the potato that primarily relate to its tuberous roots.
Aside from borrowing «potato -> potatis», Swedes also coined their own term for the vegetable, viz, «jordpäron» («earthpear»). And the Danes have borrowed «Kartoffel -> kartoffel» from their southern neighbours….
[quote author=Agoraphile link=board=etymology;num=1059081459;start=0#5 date=07/26/03 at 06:06:56] ... All mean ‘earth-apple.’
[quote author=Agoraphile link=board=etymology;num=1059081459;start=0#5 date=07/26/03 at 06:06:56] ... All mean ‘earth-apple.’
In Standard Chinese, the tuber is called «tudou(r)», «earthbean». The importation of potato and maize cultivation into China (via the Philippines, whither the practice had come from Spanish America), where it flourished as early as the 16th century, is said to be at least partially responsible for the great increase in population occuring from the middle of the 15th century onwards, as marginal lands, not suitable to the cultivation of rice or wheat, could brought into use. It took much longer to get Europeans to eat the vegetable ; in Sweden, for example, the first potatoes were planted in the botanical garden in Uppsala in 1658, where, as elsewhere in Europe, they were appreciated for their flowers (and, most probably, for their novelty as well). The plant (stems and leaves ?) seem also to have been used in the production of medicines. The first attempt at commercial potato farming in Sweden took place in 1724 under the auspices of a man named Jonas Alströmer, well-known to all Swedes ; what most of them don’t know, however, is that Alströmer went bankrupt—nobody wanted to eat his roots. Success for Solanum spp in Sweden was only guaranteed when Eva de la Gardie some fifty years later found that potato starch could be used as a raw ingredient in the distillation of spirits. This was around the time that some terrorists threw chests of tea from British ships in Boston harbour (in some years, the tax on tea amounted to as much as 10 % of the revenues of the British Crown) ; twenty years later Alexander Hamilton’s exise tax on spirits, which favoured the interests of large producers, was to provoke the famous Whiskey Rebellion against the US federal government under George Washington. A few years earlier, writing from Paris, Thomas Jefferson had commented on an earlier rural taxpayers’ revolt (quoted from memory)
The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of Patriots and Tyrants ; it is its natural manure….
This site, [url=http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-23-a.html]What is the Difference Between
a Sweetpotato and a Yam?[/url], presents some very informative data, as well as this mini-history:
Several decades ago, when orange-fleshed sweet potatoes were introduced in the southern United States, producers and shippers desired to distinguish them from the more traditional, white-fleshed types. The African word nyami, referring to the starchy, edible root of the Dioscorea genus of plants, was adopted in its English form, yam. Yams in the U.S. are actually sweetpotatoes with relatively moist texture and orange flesh. Although the terms are generally used interchangeably, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that the label "yam" always be accompanied by "sweetpotato."
turkey - 1541, "guinea fowl" (Numida meleagris), imported from Madagascar via Turkey, by Near East traders known as turkey merchants. The larger North American bird (Meleagris gallopavo) was domesticated by the Aztecs, introduced to Spain by conquistadors (1523) and thence to wider Europe, by way of Africa and Turkey (Indian corn was originally turkey corn or turkey wheat in Eng. for the same reason). The word turkey was first applied to it in Eng. 1555 because it was identified with or treated as a species of the guinea fowl. The New World bird itself reputedly reached England by 1524 (when Henry VIII dined on it at court). Turkeys raised by the Pilgrims were probably stock brought from England. By 1575, turkey was becoming the usual main course at an English Christmas. Meaning "inferior show, failure," is 1927 in show business slang, probably from the image of the turkey as a stupid bird.
In Spain potatoes are called patatas but New World Spanish has papas (also papas fritas "French fries"). Both words are loans from the Carib Indians.
Rumanian uses a word Cartof for "potato" (as in cartofurile pirei "Mashed potatoes") . A loanword from the German Kartofel.
The Irish word "prata"(prah-tuh) plural "pratai" (prah-tee) is a corruption of patata with a slurred r put in.
In the Baltimore - Washington D.C. area people used to pronounce POTATO as puh-tay-tuh but probably less so now with the area having become more internationalized.
And then, of course, there’s French with Pomme de terre or "Apple of the Earth", French choosing not to borrow.
Local Swedish names (in the plural) include pantofflor, jordpäron (earth pears), jordäpplen (earth apples), potater, nolor (from the Nolhaga estate, where cultivation in Sweden began).
Katy, I’m sure that they are not really black! I didn’t make it to the Canary Islands, but they probably have a few less words for colors out there. (They are probably the purplish blue ones you are thinking of!)
