SC - Rhubarb as food reference

[Decker, Terry D.]

Just for fun, here is some etomology for the word rhubarb.

BTW, the handy quick ref says what we eat is Rheum rhubarbarum and that the
Asian varieties are Rheum officinale and R. palmatum and are used as
laxatives.  

Bear

[Middle English rubarbe, from Old French, from Late Latin reubarbarum,
probably alteration (influenced by Greek rhêon), of rhabarbarum : rha,
rhubarb (from Greek, perhaps from Rha, the Volga River) + Latin barbarum,
neuter of barbarus, barbarian, foreign. See BARBAROUS.]
Word History: The word rhubarb may contain two hidden references to its
origins. The first of these is in the rhu- part of the word, which can be
traced back to the Greek word rha, meaning "rhubarb." According to the Late
Latin historian Ammianus Marcellinus, rhubarb was named rha because it grew
near the river named Rha, which we know as the Volga. The -barb part of
rhubarb was actually added first to Late Latin rha, descended from Greek
rha, in the form rhabarbarum, barbarum being the neuter form of barbarus,
"foreign." Another Greek word for rhubarb, rhêon, influenced the Late Latin
word rhabarbarum, giving us reubarbarum, which yielded Old French reubarbe.
The Old French form gave us Middle English rubarbe, first recorded in a work
written around 1390. In imitation of the way the Greek word rha is spelled,
an h was added, completing the long journey of this word into English from
the banks of the Volga in classical times.
 

> According to _Food in History_ (Tannahill, 1973), Rhubarb is of
> Chinese origin.  It came west as a foodstuff via Arab and Rhadanite
> Jew caravans (p.126).  She mentions it in a section describing the "new
> walled city of Bhagdad" of the 8th century.
> 
> Not the world's greatest source, but a good suggestion.
> 
> 
> niccolo 
> 
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