Re:Italian seaside residents hit with bygone feudal tax
by acheron on Tuesday May 25, 2021 @11:31AM
(#27278146)
Yep. Old English word for spear was "gar". One vegetable was related to the leek, but they described the clove as spear-shaped: the gar-leek. https://www.etymonline.com/word/garlic
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Re:Italian seaside residents hit with bygone feudal tax
by jmkb on Tuesday May 25, 2021 @12:44PM
(#27279125)
Hah. I assume the English were looking at the budding shoot (aka "garlic scape" [0]) when they named it, whereas the Germans were looking at the knobby root (Knoblauch = knob leek).
[0] https://ediblejersey.ediblecommunities.com/recipes/garlic-sc...
Re:Italian seaside residents hit with bygone feudal tax
by mellavora on Tuesday May 25, 2021 @12:23PM
(#27278829)
And interestingly enough, the Swedish word for the fish which is called "pike" in English is "gär".
Lots of Nordic words in old English.
Re:Italian seaside residents hit with bygone feudal tax
by kjs3 on Tuesday May 25, 2021 @01:19PM
(#27279581)
Also interesting is we (US, at least) have a fish called a 'gar' that looks similar to a pike, but isn't technically. Pike are family Esocidae and gar are family Lepisosteidae.
Re:Italian seaside residents hit with bygone feudal tax
by bivargen on Tuesday May 25, 2021 @02:28PM
(#27280427)
No, it’s not, the fish is called ”gädda”. The swedish cognate to gar would be ger, which has the same meaning of acute angle/point.
Re:Italian seaside residents hit with bygone feudal tax
by throwaway894345 on Tuesday May 25, 2021 @11:51AM
(#27278407)
People in this thread might be interested in the History of English Podcast. I highly recommend it if you're interested in etymology and/or history: https://historyofenglishpodcast.com