[Sca-cooks] mint water

[Terry Decker]

The earliest references to mint of which I am aware are in Mycenaean and, 
according to one source, appear to be in common use in the earliest 
writings.  This would place the knowledge of mint in Pelloponnesus between 
1600 and 1200 BCE.  Since Mycenaean is a direct ancestor of Hellenic Greek, 
it is probably the "earlier source" suggested.

Bear

> Oh, this is the OED on the origin of the word Mint, meaning the plant:
>
> "Cognate with Middle Dutch minte, Old Saxon minta (Middle Low German
> minte), Old High German minza (Middle High German minze, minz, German
> Minze) < classical Latin menta, mentha, prob. borrowed, like ancient
> Greek {mu}{giacu}{nu}{theta}{eta} (in Hellenistic Greek also
> {mu}{giacu}{nu}{theta}{omicron}{fsigma}), from an unidentified source.
> Cf. Middle Dutch munte, muynte, muente (Dutch munt), Old High German
> munza (German Münze) which show unexplained variation in the root vowel.
>  The form mente (cf. Middle Dutch mente) may perh. be influenced by
> Anglo-Norman, Old French mente (French menthe).] "
>
> In other words, they suggest that the word in both German, Latin, and
> Greek are borrowings from an earlier source...
>
> -- 
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
> "I thought you might need rescuing . . . We have a bunch of professors
> wandering around who need students." -- Dan Guernsey
>


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