Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Food Etymologies. This looks at the unusual and often hilarious origins of the words in everyday use. You will never look at a menu or the contents of your plate in the same way again. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.
As previously, I thought it might be good to drop a couple of teasers in and start with one of my favourite meats – venison. As with other meats it came to English from French, where Old French venesoun referred generally to ‘meat of large game’. This in turn is derived from Latin venationem ‘a hunt, the chase’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo European wen ‘to strive for’.
Rather than find a vegetable, we’ll opt for that very word which again is from Old French vegetable meaning ‘living, fit to live’ and back to Latin vegetabilis ‘animating, enlivening’, and ultimately good old Proto-Indo European weg ‘to be strong, lively’. Seems odd that a vegetarian insists on eating something which is derived from a word meaning ‘animated’, but that is the wonder of the ever evolving world of language.
And on the subject of evolving language, let’s go for a fruit – the avocado. The word came to Europe via the Spanish, who altered the Nahuatl (Aztec, if you prefer) word ahuakatl to avocado; where the Spanish word meant ‘lawyer’ while the Aztec original meant ‘testicle’ – this as the fruit was considered the same shape, and also an aphrodisiac. The irony is this aphrodisiac is no longer able to reproduce itself and all avocados are today pollinated by humans.
If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.
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