Sum: Two questions on carrots

[Larry Trask]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
A few days ago, I posted two questions about carrots.  I've almost been
overwhelmed by the responses: it appears that half the linguists on the
planet, as well as a few plant specialists, have been beavering away on my
behalf.  Here's a summary of what I've learned.

All specialists agree that the cultivated carrot originated in or near
Afghanistan, that it was carried westward across the Near East and Turkey,
that it was taken by the Arabs across North Africa into Spain around the
13th-14th century, and that it spread from Spain into the rest of Europe.
One or two sources report that cultivated carrots were finally introduced
into England only in the 15th or 16th centuries, either via France or by
Flemish settlers from the Low Countries.  Most sources agree that
hybridization with the native European wild carrot probably or certainly
took place at some point.

At the same time, it is accepted that the ancient Greeks and Romans ate
something which they called 'carrots', and indeed the very name 'carrot'
derives from ancient Greek <karo:ton>, itself of unknown origin.  Since the
European wild carrot is anything but tasty, it's far from clear just what
those people were eating.

Just to muddy the waters, Kluge, the standard etymological dictionary of
German, insists that carrots are attested in the Stone Age stilt-houses of
Switzerland, and that carrots were cultivated "early" by Germanic-speakers.
I really don't know what to make of this.

Now, to the English name.  There is a common Germanic word *<morho:n>,
applied to edible roots and root vegetables, and recorded widely in
Germanic.  Examples: Old Saxon <morha>, Old High German <mor(a)ha> (modern
German <Moehre> or <Mohrruebe>, reportedly confined to Low German), Yiddish
<mer>, and Swedish <morot>.  This word is well recorded in Old English in
the form <more>, with a variant <moru>.  The OED says that <more> still
exists as a dialectal word in England.

Most philologists, including Bosworth-Toller, the standard dictionary of
Old English, agree that this Old English word could be applied to any root
vegetable, but also that it could mean specifically 'carrot'.  Both B-T and
several respondents cite OE passages in which <more> ~ <moru> is glossed as
'carrot', either unmodified or in combination.  Several sources note that
<Wylisc moru> or <weal(h)more> 'Welsh moru', 'foreign moru' (perhaps
'Roman'?) is sometimes used specifically for 'carrot', in contrast to
<Englisc moru>, the parsnip.  (This item survives into Middle English as
<walmore>.)  Also recorded is a compound <feldmore> 'field moru', but it is
far from clear just which root vegetable this name was applied to.  All the
early citations appear to come from herbalists, suggesting medicinal use
but perhaps not cultivation for food.  These citations antedate the
accepted introduction of cultivated carrots into England by several
centuries.  But one or two respondents have wondered whether it is certain
that these citations unquestionably designate the carrot, as opposed to
some other root vegetable.

The word 'carrot', according to the OED, is recorded in English only from
1533.  But two respondents have reported the word, spelled 'karette', in an
English herbalist dating from about 1500 -- or before any cultivated
carrots are supposed to have reached England.  The quotation is this:
"Rotys for a gardyn. Persenepez, Turnepez, Radyche, Karettes, Galyngale."

Two other English words of interest are <clapwype> (from 1425) and <tank>
(from 1597), but both of these appear to mean 'parsnip', rather than
'carrot'.  But <dauke>, apparently from Latin, is abundantly recorded for
'wild carrot' in the 15th century.  And 'shorthorn' is recorded from 1873.

A curiosity is Wessex 'rantipole', meaning 'carrot' but recorded only from
the 18th century, and apparently a transferred sense of a word meaning
'tearaway'.

Now to the color.  Everybody agrees that early carrots were variably dirty
white, yellow, red or deep purple, and that the predominant dirty-white
color helped to induce confusion between carrots and parsnips.  Orange
carrots were developed only in the 1600s, in the Netherlands, by the
hybridization of red and yellow carrots.  Orange carrots have now taken
over the world, and the other colors are cultivated only by specialists.
But all this makes my question about the earlier color term applied to
carrots rather pointless.

While I'm here, an aside or two.  Spanish <zanahoria> (and earlier
variants) 'carrot' derives from Hispano-Arabic <as-safuna:ria> id., of
unknown origin.  The same Arabic word is the source of Basque <azenario>
(and many variants) 'carrot', seemingly with Romance mediation.  Some
eastern varieties of Basque have folk-etymologized this word into
<zain(h)ori>, as though from Basque <zain> 'root' and <(h)ori> 'yellow',
with the final /a/ taken as the Basque article <-a>.  I consider this one
of the most successful folk etymologies of all time.

The northern Basques mostly use <pastana> for 'carrot', with many extended
variants, such as <pastanaga>.  This must derive somehow from Latin
<pastina:ca> 'parsnip', though the form shows that it can't be taken
directly from Latin.

My thanks to Laurent Sagart, Jim Rader, Marc Picard, Laura Wright, Dorothy
Disterheft, Diana Lewis, Jane Roberts, Jasmin Harvey, Martin Huld, Margaret
Sharpe, Peter Oehl, John Hines, John Charles Smith, Barrie Juniper, Dorine
Houston, Rod McConchie, Paul Cohen, Richard Coates, Roger Wright, Christian
Janet Kay, Carole Biggam, Cerwyss O'Hare, Simon Horobin, Rich Alderson,
Brian Scott, Peter Bierbauner, Allan Hall, David Fertig, Debby Banham and
Brett Kessler.

Two things.  I've done my best to copy this summary to any respondent who I
suspected was not on HISTLING, but I may have missed one or two.  If so, I
apologize, and I'd be grateful if somebody could forward this posting to
any such person.  And my thank-you reply to Carole Biggam mysteriously
bounced, which suggests that this one might bounce too.


Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk

Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad)
Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad)