chard

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jul 11, 2007, at 6:42 AM, Charlie Doyle wrote:

> ... May I assume that [Sard] is just one of those Frenchy
> affectations beloved of gourmet cooks--like [andiv] for
> "endive" (which at least is recorded in the dictionaries)--or is
> the pronunciation [Sard] an actual feature of some dialect?

"chard" and "endive" both have complex stories, but their stories are
different.  "chard" is a borrowing from french ("chardon" 'thistle',
now with [S] in french), from a time when "card" and "chard" could
refer, in english, either to the leaf stalk of an artichoke (a
species of thistle) or to the midrib of a white beet plant ("swiss
chard"), both as prepared, in similar ways, for eating.  apparently,
"carde" can still be used in french to refer to beet-chard/chard-
beet, though "bette" (often with modifiers to distinguish it from
"bette-rave" 'beetroot') is the word i'm familiar with.  the phonetic
development in french is presumably the familiar [k] > [tS] > [S];
english borrowings mostly come from the intermediate stage, as in
"chair" (latin "catedra", with [k], mod. french "chaise", with [S]).

as far as i can tell, there's no mod. french "charde" for english
[Sard] to be based on, and i can't find any citations of an english
pronunciation in [S].  so it's frenchified english -- and imperfectly
frenchified at that, since the final [d] is preserved; full
frenchification would give you [Sar].

now, english "endive" is different, since [a~div] is the modern
french pronunciation, so that [andiv] is just an english borrowing
(with minimum adaptation to english phonetics).

what makes "endive" complex is that there are two different species
in the genus cichorium here, both edible: cichorium endiva, which is
"curly endive" (and has a broad-leaved variant called "escarole");
and cichorium intybus, which is "Belgian/French endive" (and has a
red variant called "radicchio").  the latter species comes in several
varieties: the common weed "chicory" (with pretty blue flowers); a
variety used like curly endive in salads; a variety grown for its
large roots, which, when dried and ground up, yield a coffee
substitute (or amendment); and Belgian/French endive, also called
"Witloof chicory".  the last is most commonly grown by tying the
outer leaves up, so that the inner leaves blanch to yellow or white.

in my various households (from childhood on), curly endive was a
plain and homely green, often blanched in boiling water or served
with a boiled dressing (dandelion greens were treated the same way);
"endive" in this sense was always pronounced [Endajv].  Belgian/
French endive, on the other hand, was a more exotic vegetable, for a
long time available only in specialty food stores or through the
tedious blanching-in-the-garden process; "endive" in this sense was
almost always pronounced [andiv], or with a more accurate attempt at
a genuine french pronunciation.  so, for my various families, the two
pronunciations were used to distinguish the two different plants
(well, my french mother-in-law mostly just pronounced food names in
french across the board), and i was annoyed by people who used
[Endajv] for both; i'd have to ask, "do you mean curly endive or
Belgian endive?"

arnold

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