[Sca-cooks] Roysonys of courance

[Nick Sasso]

> -----Original Message-----
> currant |ˈkərənt; ˈkə-rənt| |ˌkərənt| |ˌkʌr(ə)nt|
> noun
<<<SNIP>>>
> 2 a Eurasian shrub that produces small edible black, red, or white  
> berries. • Genus Ribes, family Grossulariaceae: numerous species,  
> including black currant and red currant.
> • a berry from such a shrub.
> ORIGIN Middle English raisons of Corauntz, translating Anglo-Norman  
> French raisins de Corauntz ‘grapes of Corinth ’ (the original  
> source).

For the sake of clarity and stating the obvious (at least to me), I believe that we are assuming the "grapes of Corith" to be dried as the only viable means of transport in that era.  If the literal translation is "Grapes of Corinth" as asserted by the reference above, then it is an indirect . . . inferred . . . leap (hop/step/lean), albeit a pretty short one, of logic to get from "Grapes of Corinth" to the dried thing we get at the local farmer's market that we refer to in modern US as "zante raisins".  

I am fully in support of the assertion that they are indeed the same creature, and cannot easily come to any other conclusion for Western Europeans' use of the product.  Just wanted to directly state what may have been obvious to some and not to others . . . or flip my ignorance to the fore and get it adjusted.  On the other hand, the term could refer only to the dried product and not at all to the fresh grapes since they would have been unfamiliar, at best.  Suspect they'd have another term for the fresh-picked zante grapes.

niccolo difrancesco