[Sca-cooks] Haba/Garbanzos

[Dragon]

Nick Sasso wrote:

>-----Original Message-----
> >From: Suey <lordhunt at gmail.com>
> >
> >Barbara Benzon questions this habas in English are garbanzos, which is
> >the Spanish word for the same. Nobody's got a black eye there?
>
>I didn't see the previous message, but habas are fava beans, aka broad
>beans.  Garbanzos are chickpeas. > > > > >
>
>
>the crux appears to be in defining the word "chickpea" in the definition of
>garbanzo.  Whose chickpea definition is the valid one in determing what the
>food item actually was.  Bristish/Eupopean dialect appears to consider a
>"Chickpea" something of what we call in US a "cow pea" or "black eyed pea".
>that is where the hitch is in the giddy-up here.  Defining terms and
>matching the word to the legume/bean/pea/little starchy thing in soups and
>salads.
---------------- End original message. ---------------------

And this is precisely why the system of species names was invented. 
Common names are notoriously unreliable and can have multiple 
meanings depending on exactly who is using them.

I think that this is a problem that will always be faced to some 
extent when dealing with historical sources. There will very likely 
be some doubt as to exactly what plant is meant by a given name if 
there are several possibilities.

Dragon

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  Venimus, Saltavimus, Bibimus (et naribus canium capti sumus)
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