[Ads-l] tarama - 1929

[Laurence Horn]

> On May 19, 2017, at 5:53 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> The online Oxford Dictionaries (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/taramasalata <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/taramasalata>) say that “tarama” is an alternative way to say “taramasalata”.
> 
> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tarama <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tarama>) says that it’s "salted cured cod roe, used in making taramosalata [or: taramasalata]”.
> 
> However, citing “Roast Lamb in the Olive Groves” by Belinda Harley, Cloake Felicity says that tarama is "roe from cod, striped mullet, carp, herring or other fish that has been preserved in salt” in "How to make the perfect taramasalata”  (http://bit.ly/2r1pT8M <http://bit.ly/2r1pT8M>) in the Guardian.
> 
> Concerning the origin, Centre National de Resources Textuelles et Lexicales (http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/tarama <http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/tarama>) says the Turkish word “tarama” means "œufs, laitance” (eggs or milt).
> 
> The earliest citation I find in Google Books is 1929:
> 
> Soviet Union Year-book
> http://bit.ly/2qCN34f <http://bit.ly/2qCN34f>
> —
> Another item of fish export is tarama (carviare from roach) which is sold only in the Near East. The chief and, at the present time, the sole consumer of tarama, is Greece.

I’m a great aficionado of tarama, which I wish was available in supermarkets on *this* side of the pond (as it is in the U.K., apparently), but I prefer the version made from cod roe (which I’ve found in specialty import markets in NYC and West Hartford but not yet in New Haven) to that made from roach caviar.   

LH


> —
> 
> Barry Popik found a 2000 citation of “tarama” (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2002-June/022743.html <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2002-June/022743.html>).
> 
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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