[Sca-cooks] Roysonys of courance

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Mar 3, 2006, at 9:05 AM, Terry Decker wrote:

> One of the things left out of most of the dictionary entries is the  
> primary range for currants is in the cooler regions of the Northern  
> Hemisphere.  The OED states that using currant for the fruit of the  
> Ribes was a transferance that occurred after the importation of the  
> plants into England some time prior to 1578.  In 1578, Lyte refers  
> to them as "Bastard Currants" and "Beyond sea Gooseberries."

That was more or less what I expected someone would turn up. Why name  
a plant indigenous to a more-or-less Northern European country after  
a Hellenic island? And if they _are_ indigenous, what did the Anglo- 
Saxons or the Welsh call them? Rather, my assumption was that they  
showed up at some point after the Middle Ages (or at the tail end),  
and somebody in England decided they looked like currants.

> A pre-17th Century English recipe calling for currants or raisins  
> of Corinth is most likely calling for Zante raisins.
>
> The etymology in Old Norse might be interesting to track.  German,  
> for example, uses Korinth and Johannisbeere as terms for currants.   
> From my limited knowledge, I believe Korinth would be the Zante  
> raisin while the Johannisbeere is "midsummer berry" as Johanni(s)  
> translates as "Midsummer Day," the Summer Solistice.

Yep. Technically, Johannisbeere would translate as St. John's  
Berries, and the Feast of Saint John is June 24th, I believe. But  
close enough for government work, as they say. It's also, BTW, the  
day Le Menagier says to start your compost, and the traditional  
kickoff of the Danish herring season.

Now, the great advantage of the tiger in unarmed combat is that he  
eats not only the fruit-laden foe, but also the red currant...

Adamantius




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04