[Bryn-gwlad] a quick melon search ....

[Tim McDaniel]

On Thu, 4 Oct 2007, nweders at mail.utexas.edu <bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org> wrote:
> http://www.watermelon.org/watermelon_funfacts.asp

Yabbut ... I found several food history pages copying from other
history pages, and copying something that looked bogus, like

     * Pumpkins are believed to have originated in North America.

     * The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large
       melon" which is "pepon." "Pepon" was changed by the French into
       "pompon." The English changed "pompon" to "Pumpion." American
       colonists changed "pumpion" into "pumpkin."

I suppose it's barely possible that pumpkins went early to Greece in
1520, for example, then to France in 1545 (getting a mutated name),
then to England in 1575.  But I found other pages saying that 'pepon'
was ancient Greek meaning <various things>, and found that posting
from Cariadoc in the Florilegium saying '"pumpkins" appear in old
world cuisine--but they aren't the big orange Cucurbita pepo that we
call "pumpkin."'.

When I look up word origins, food origins, or name origins on the Web,
I take a big honkin' grain of salt and make an effort to find a
solidly reputable source.

That page says
- watermelons were in ancient Egypt over 5000 years ago
- they spread along the Med slowly
- they hit China in the 10th C
none of which are implausible (though it seems slow to me, compared to
turkeys, for example), but then
- "The 13th century found watermelon spread through the rest of Europe
   via the Moors."  Isn't it more plausible that Europeans would
   get the watermelon just from Egypt or the other countries of the
   Med, where it was said to have spread long before?

Danihel de Lincolino
-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com