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--></style><title>Re: Smorgas (1858); Mole (1901); Batik
(1857)</title></head><body>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite>-----------------------------------------<span
></span>---------------<br>
MOLE<br>
<br>
What does the revised OED have for the Mexican
"mole"?<br>
<br>
MEXICO AS I SAW IT<br>
by Mrs. Alec Tweedie<br>
Herst and Blackett Limited, London<br>
1901<br>
<br>
Pg. 247:</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> The more wary housekeeper
takes her turkey into the patio, feeds it for a week, and only puts
it into "mole," stew with chilli, when plump and fat.
It is interesting to note that the turkey is indigenous to Mexico.<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div>The on-line version has this:</div>
<div>==================</div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000"><b>mole</b> mou.li, sb.8
[Mexican Sp., ad. Nahuatl mulli, molli sauce, stew. ] A highly spiced
sauce made chiefly from chilli and chocolate and served</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000">with various
meats.</font><br>
<font face="Geneva" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000">1932 H. W. Bentley Dict. Sp.
Terms in Eng. 169 Mole.., a sauce used in Mexican cookery in
connection with the serving of meats.</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000">1948 Sat. Even. Post 2 Oct.
52/3 Senora Gonzalez does her stuff on such fabulous and sustaining
dishes as chicken mole-boiled chicken bathed</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000">in a sauce of exotic Mexican
spices, cinnamon, chili, mashed-up peanuts and even a dash of
chocolate [etc.].</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000">1957 B. Buckingham Boiled
Alive xviii. 121 Turkey swimming in mole, a hot sauce made of chilli
and chocolate, stuffed sweet peppers and</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000">mounds of pink-brown
beans.</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000">1966 Punch 9 Mar. 364/2 We
were..sated with rich turkey mole.</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva"
color="#000000">===================</font></div>
<div>What surprises me is not the late attestation, which we've seen
is a general fact about these borrowed food terms, but the
pronunciation. Is it really pronounced by anyone as a homophone
of "moley" (as in "Holy ____"), and as rhyming
with holy? I've only ever heard it pronounced MOW-lay, to rhyme
with "NO lay" or "ROLAI[ds]". This is
another one of those Nahuatl borrowings like "chile/chilli"
discussed a little while ago, but this time no one seems to use any
of the non-Spanish transliterations. (Or is "molli"
used sometimes, perhaps to avoid the unwanted homographs of
"mole"? I've never seen it.)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>larry</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>P.S. It's absolutely delicious, and although the packaged
jars of mole paste aren't at all the same, I'm very glad that our
local supermarkets have finally started carrying them so I don't have
wait until the LSA/ADS meets in California to replenish my
stock. (I know it can be made at home, but there are about 18
ingredients so I think I'll have to wait until retirement to
try.)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>larry</div>
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