[Sca-cooks] Coleworts

[Decker, Terry D.]

The Middle English "col" derives from the Old English "cal" which comes from
the Latin "caulis" (meaning cabbage).  The Middle English "wort" derives
from the Old English "wyrt" (meaning plant).  Thus "colewort" is "cabbage
plant" in Middle English.  Middle English passes to Modern English about
1500.  Collard, cole, kale, borecole, and colewort are all variants of the
ME "col."

In English, the use of "cabbage" to differentiate the head cabbages from the
leaf cabbages (coles) probably occurs early on.  Cabbage derives from the
Middle English "cabouche" from the Old North French word for head, possibly
deriving from the Latin "caput."  Old North French is the dialect of Old
French (8th to 16th Centuries) spoken in Normandy and Brittany.

Bear

>
> From: Daniel Myers <doc at medievalcookery.com>
>
> I've read a number of sources that say "coleworts" is the
> original form
> of the word "collards", and was used to mean any of a number of
> brassicas like collards, kale, and loose-headed cabbages.
>