: SC - Another Inconsistency {Long}

[RANDALL DIAMOND]

Aldyth at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Greetings all.
> 
> I have a question regarding Pumpkin.  In Apicius, there are many recipes that
> specify pumpkin.  (Book III)  The latin word they use is cucurbitas.  Granted
> , whatever "pumpkin" they are referring to in those recipes is not what we
> have today. There are references to green string beans, and "marrow" as
> zucchini squash.  This may be where the problem lies in determining what is
> and is not "period".  How do we tell the difference between what the original
> recipe said, and the language the translaters use?

My suspicion is that the translators in many cases just used
familiar vegetables and fruits that they knew and applied them to
the original recipies when they translated.  I don't know hardly
any Latin, but "cucurbitas" is cucumber, according to my
Grandfather.  I simply can't see how they got pumpkin out of
that! From what I recall when I lived in England back in the
1980's, marrow's were available in the greengrocers and they
didn't look like any zucchini squash I'd ever seen...

Just my two ha'pence...

Bernadette
- -- 
Nothing is foolproof to a talented fool.