duel roll

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:30 AM -0800 2/16/08, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>On Feb 15, 2008, at 7:41 PM, Larry Horn wrote:
>
>>At 5:22 PM -0800 2/15/08, JAMES A. LANDAU Netscape. Just the Net You
>>Need. wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>... OT:  If I remember correctly, "canola" or "Canola" is an
>>>acronym for
>>>"Canada oil low-acid"---MWCD11 says "a rape plant of an imporved
>>>variety having seeds that are low in erucic acid".
>>>
>>Given "Mazola" (maize + -ola, corn oil), Saffola (safflower + -ola)
>>and no doubt other -olas, I wonder if there's any reason to believe
>>"Canola" is really an acronym, as opposed to "Can[adian] + -ola", as
>>I was maintaining earlier today.  Unless of course all the -olas come
>>from "...oil low-acid", but somehow that seems unlikely.  -ola just
>>seems like a natural candidate for a commercial-Latinate rendering
>>(rending?) of 'oil'.
>
>fwiw, NOAD2 gives CANada + -OLA the oil suffix (noting that the oil
>was developed in Canada), while AHD4 gives CANada + Oil + Low + Acid.
>
I've just done a quick survey of other web-accessible dictionaries
and sites (from Snopes to oil-producers to Wiki to the Canadian
government) and it's a split verdict, with CANada + -ola slightly
outpolling CANada + Oil + Low + Acid.  I guess the OED, which has no
entry for _canola_, is waiting for the returns from the rural
districts before declaring a winner.

LH

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