 | Sometimes it is confusing when two different etymologies are given by different dictionaries for the same word. E.g.*, Ketchup:
From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company :
[Probably Malay kicap, fish sauce, possibly from Chinese (Cantonese) k -chap, equivalent to Chinese (Mandarin) qié, eggplant + Chinese (Mandarin) zh , sap, gravy.]
Word History: The word ketchup exemplifies the types of modifications that can take place in borrowing - both of words and substances. The source of our word ketchup may be the Malay word kchap, possibly taken into Malay from the Cantonese dialect of Chinese. Kchap, like ketchup, was a sauce, but one without tomatoes; rather, it contained fish brine, herbs, and spices. Sailors seem to have brought the sauce to Europe, where it was made with locally available ingredients such as the juice of mushrooms or walnuts. At some unknown point, when the juice of tomatoes was first used, ketchup as we know it was born.But it is important to realize that in the 18th and 19th centuries ketchup was a generic term for sauces whose only common ingredient was vinegar. The word is first recorded in English in 1690 in the form catchup, in 1711 in the form ketchup, and in 1730 in the form catsup. All three spelling variants of this foreign borrowing remain current. from Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary:
[Probably of East Indian origin, because it was originally a kind of East Indian pickles.]
You can also use Google to define words for you. define : ketchup (indlude the colon!) will net you several definitions.... including Sacbee's Glossary of Sauces & Condiments entry:A thick, sweet sauce made with tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, salt and spices. Also known as catsup and catchup. Ketchup is said to be derived from ke-tsiap -- a spicy pickled-fish condiment popular in China.
from the movie Get Shorty:
Ray "Bones" Barboni: Let me explain something to you. Momo is dead. Which means that everything he had now belongs to Jimmy Cap, including you. Which also means, that when I speak, I speak for Jimmy. E.g., from now on, you start showing me the proper fucking respect.
Chili Palmer: "E.g." means "for example". What I think you want to say is "I.e.".
Ray "Bones" Barboni: Bullshit! That's short for "ergo".
Chili Palmer: Ask your man.
Bodyguard: To the best of my knowledge, "e.g." means "for example".
Ray "Bones" Barboni: E.g., i.e., fuck you! The point is this: is that, When I say "jump", you say "OK", okay? e.g., exempli gratia, which means "for the sake of example" ([Latin exempl gratia, for the sake of example : exempli, genitive of exemplum, example + gratia, ablative of gratia, favor.], should not be confused with i.e., id est (that is).
Also, confuse has an archaic meaning of "to bring to ruination." ([Middle English confusen, from Old French confus, perplexed, from Latin confusus, past participle of confundere, to mix together. See confound.])
After doing this post I decided to catch up on my listening to This American Life. Strangely, on last week's episode Howard Chackowicz explained how you can measure the special treatment you're getting, by the number of ketchup packets the delivery man gives you. The Web site had a picture of one of these packets. I altered the post to include the pic. |
