more camas and wapato

Mike Cleven wrote:

> I don't know how accurate William Samarin's logic there is - I have =
been
> under the impression that the etymology of "potato" was from the New =
World,
> although I don't know whether via one of the Iberian languages or =
directly
> into English, or which of the New World languages it was taken from =
(New
> England or Central America, I think).......


Mike et al.,

The OED derives the Eng. *potato* from Spanish *patata* from a native =
term of
Hispaniola. The earliest English occurrence known to the OED is:

1555 Eden *Decades* 82 (tr. Peter Martyr, 1511=3DAD16). "In =
Hispaniola..they dygge
also..certeyne rootes growynge of theim selues, whiche they caule Botatas
[indigen=3DE6 batatas appellant]... They are also eaten rawe, and haue =
the taste of
rawe chestnuttes, but are sumwhat sweeter."

The Random House Dictionary (3d ed.) gives the source of *wapatoo* as =
Chinook
Jargon, ulterior origin unknown. I would subscribe to that etymology for =
now,
rather than the OED's derivation from Cree *wapatowa* 'white mushroom' =
(though
the word certainly could stem ultimately from an Algonquian word =
incorporating
the root *wap-* 'white'--there just isn't much evidence at this point).

Alan
--
Alan H. Hartley
119 West Kent Road
Duluth MN 55812-1152
U.S.A.
Tel. 218/724-5095
http://www.d.umn.edu/~ahartley/