9 ms·
Actually, in Persian, tomato is literally translated as “western plum”. This is common in our language as we usually say “western” or “foreign” as a prefix to m
by amir_karbasi 10d ago
Actually, in Persian, tomato is literally translated as “western plum”. This is common in our language as we usually say “western” or “foreign” as a prefix to many things that were introduced to Iran (strawberries, sit-style toilets, etc)
- alephnerd 10d agoAppreciate the clarification!
- amir_karbasi 10d agoMy pleasure! I also find languages very interesting and have had the opportunity to grow up in a bilingual home and learn French and German. One more fun fact is that potato is a direct translation of the French “Pomme de terre” (“sib zamani” or “ground apple”). Back to the actual topic, this is a recipe that’s definitely worth trying. Persian shallots are actually more garlicky than oniony. A great addition to lamb dishes and yogurt.
- dotancohen 10d agoThank you! In Hebrew we literally call the potato תפוח אדמה which is "ground apple". Now I know where the idea comes from.
- bitwize 9d agoI find it fascinating that the Persian word for "foreign"/"Western", farangi, actually means "Frankish", which gives some idea of the "compressed geography" people experience regarding faraway places. It was also used to name a race on Star Trek.
- abtinf 10d agoIt is not a “clarification”. You are wrong and are spreading misinformation. In Farsi, the word for tomato is gojeh farangi.
- riffraff 10d agoInteresting, in various European languages those tend to be "Turkish": turkey hens (the bird called turkey now), Turkish corn (maize), Turkish beans (long beans). Again, trade routes.
- oldandboring 10d ago> maize Which, in turn, originated in Mexico and didn't make its way to Europe until the 1500s.
- idontwantthis 10d agoIn Panama they say Chino for foreign versions and in Cambodia they say barang which literally means Frankish (via farang from Thailand).
- selcuka 10d ago> Turkish corn (maize) And in Turkish maize is called "Mısır", which comes from the country name Egypt (which is also Mısır in Turkish). When Arabs conquered Egypt, they called it "Mishr" (مصر) which literally translates to "country" or "borderland". Maize was originally imported from the Americas, but because the trade route was through Egypt, Turkish people initially called it Egypt Wheat or Egypt Millet. In time, it is started to be called only Mısır/Egypt.
- sehansen 10d agoI wonder what they call maize in Egypt then? According to Kagi Translate, a term for maize that's specific to Egypt is "الذرة الشامية" (al-dhura ash-shāmiyyah) which could be directly translated to "Levantine sorghum". Can anyone with actual knowledge of Egytian Arabic confirm? Also I had the idea that "Maize" might have come from "Mısır", but etymonline claims it comes from the native (Arawakan) name for the plant: mahiz.
- deleted 9d ago[deleted]
- xattt 10d agoAs an aside, tomatoes are golden apples (pomodoro), and oranges are Chinese apples (Apfelsin) in some languages. A lot of cultures appear to name botanicals using apples or, in GP’s context, stone fruit as “reference” points.
- fsckboy 10d ago>A lot of cultures appear to name botanicals using apples don't know if it makes the point or upends it, but the fruit in the Garden of Eden wasn't specifically an apple.
- snthpy 10d agoThank you for this. Knowing both those words, i could never work out the original/history of the terms.
- vladgur 10d agoWow, апельсин - apelsin(Russian) makes total sense now
- mlni 10d agoPotatoes are called "earth apples" in french (pomme de terre) and a bunch of other european languages
- YeGoblynQueenne 9d agoWait 'till you hear about melon - "μήλον" i.e. "apple" in Greek. Melon, watermelon, pomelo, etc. The ancient Greeks themselves started that with the "golden apples of the Hesperides" a.k.a. oranges. I guess any fruit people didn't know how to call was ... some kind of apple.
- Agentlien 9d agoEverything is an apple, it seems. You also have earth apples (pomme de terre in French, aardappel in Dutch) for potatoes, grenade apples (pomegranate in English, granatäpple in Swedish, ...), pineapple, ...
- 9d ago
- thrdbndndn 10d agoChinese does the same thing, using prefixes like 西 (western), 番 (foreign), and 洋 (foreign) for introduced items. For tomatoes, interestingly, it has two common names that follow this pattern: 西紅柿, literally translated as "Western Red Persimmon", and 番茄, literally translated as "Foreign Eggplant". Other produce examples include 番薯 (Foreign Yam) for sweet potato, 西瓜 (Western Melon) for watermelon, 洋蔥 (Foreign Onion) for bulb onion etc.
- dotancohen 10d agoThe recorded English-language etymology for "ketchup" suggests that the word comes from one of the Chinese dialect's word for tomato. Do you have any idea which Chinese word sounds like ketchup?
- taneliv 10d agoNot exactly a Chinese dialect, but Vietnamese calls tomatoes "cà chua": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/c%C3%A0_chua https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/c%C3%A0_chua .
- dotancohen 10d agoAre the Vietnamese and Chinese languages related? Or perhaps one of the two cultures was introduced to that fruit by the other, and thus preserved the name?
- avadodin 10d agoNot related at all in recent history and I have no insight on the etymology links but Vietnamese used to be written in a mix of original Vietnamese Chinese-style characters before they changed to a Latin alphabet with Colonialism and Communism so there was definitely contact.
- dotancohen 9d agoThank you
- eru 10d agoAustrians call tomatoes Paradeiser, from an older word for Paradise.
- bitwize 10d agoThere is a bird native to the Americas which in English is called the turkey, from its original name "Turkey fowl", because it was thought to come from "the east" of which Türkiye is the country with which most Europeans were familiar (due to being the closest). In Turkish, the bird's name references India ("hindi"); the same is true of other languages such as French ("dinde", from "poule d'inde", chicken of India).