# Corn



## 2x2isnot4

I would like make a list of how "corn" as in an agricultural product, is expressed in different countries. Please note that there are different names within the same language. For example, it changes from UK  English to USA  English or from Syrian Arabic to Egyptian Arabic. 

More the merrier!

I need to clarify a point about "corn" : I was using it as in American English, which is different than the English use. By Corn, I  mean maize in UK English. To stop further confusion the definition is below:

corn 1 |kôrn|
noun
1 a North American cereal plant that yields large grains, or kernels, set in rows on a cob. Its many varieties yield numerous products, highly valued for both human and livestock consumption. 
corn1 1
Also called Indian corn . • Zea mays, family Gramineae; it was domesticated before 5000 bc, although the wild ancestor is unidentified.
• the grains of this : creamed corn | two ears of corn.
• Brit. the chief cereal crop of a district, esp. (in England) wheat or (in Scotland) oats.

PHRASES
corn on the cob corn when cooked and eaten straight from the cob; an ear of corn.
ORIGIN Old English , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch koren and German Korn.


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## TurbidTongue

Portugal, Brazil, and all Portuguese-speaking countries, as far as I know: Milho.
Standard Spanish: Maíz  
In Mexico and Central America there are a lot of different terms for corn, depending on its kind (size, color, etc) and also on its preparation as food. However, I will let a local talk about those terms.


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## Áristos

In Spanish we normally say "maíz" to refer to what they call "corn" in the USA, and "sweet corn" or "maize" in the UK.

In Spain, we also say "panizo". I don't know if this is also used in South America.

I look forward to your posts, partners


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## 2x2isnot4

Thanks, Áristos. Let me add that I am particularly interested in location places that are associated with "corn" because that gives us the traits of a cultural-commercial-historical interaction which starts with the corn being introduced in Europe from the Americas. An example: in Italian, it is called "mais" but also "granturco". Obviously, "granturco" refers to Turkey. Or in Turkish, it is "Mısır" which also happens to be the name of the country, "Egypt". For this reason, I would appreciate if anyone posting to this thread, would also explain if the word has any association with a geographical location in the original language.  Thank you all!


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## Áristos

Well, I just checked the DRAE, and it says that the word "maíz" comes from the taino "mahís" (probably you already knew that).
The *tainos* were the natives of the Greater Antilles (La Española, Cuba and Puerto Rico) and the Bahamas , so it goes without saying that the Spanish colonizers brought it to the Old World.


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## 2x2isnot4

Once in Europe, the story becomes more interesting, at least, looking at different languages to see where they thought this new product came from... Having said that, your observation about taino "mahis" was eluding me up to this point. Thank you!


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## Grop

The French is _maïs_. The cnrtl reports it comes from Taino through Spanish.



> Empr., par l'intermédiaire de l'esp. _maiz_ «_id._», au taino [arawak d'Haïti] où le mot a dû avoir la forme _mahiz_



They also report it was sometimes called wheat from Spain, India or Turkey. I am not familiar with this use.



> Synon. vieilli ou région. _blé d'Espagne, d'Inde, de Turquie._


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## sokol

So obviously this is about corn = maize, right? Because English corn would be something else. 

In German we have:
- Germany (and Switzerland, I think): Mais
- Austria (general): Kukuruz (not known in Germany)
- Austria (especially Styria): Woaz (= Weizen = wheat elsewhere)
- Austria (regionally: west, south, east I think, but not in the north): Türken (= Turks )


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## origumi

In Hebrew we use the word "tiras" תירס for corn.

The etymology is interesting: Tiras son of Japeth son of Noah is supposedly the ancestor of the people who lived in Turkey at biblical times. Therefore the Hebrew name for Turkey in certain periods was Tiras. Like in some European languages corn is called in Hebrew after Turkey. For a while it got the name "Turkish wheat" חיטה תורכית and eventually just "tiras".


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## 2x2isnot4

Thank you all!

SOKOL & ORIGUMI: I am delightfully surprised by your contributions. I suspect though ORIGAMI is referring to wheat (as in UK English), rather than maize.  Am I wrong? I am sorry, the error is mine only, I added a definition of corn ( as in American English).


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## Joannes

In Dutch: *maïs*


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## Agró

In Catalan: *blat de moro* (Moorish wheat), *moresc *(Moorish), *panís*.
In Basque: *arto*.


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## 2x2isnot4

Hello Agró, u are referring to maize, right?


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## origumi

2x2isnot4 said:


> I suspect though ORIGAMI is referring to wheat (as in UK English), rather than maize.


I refer to (US) corn, (UK) maize, the new-world plant of which popcorn is prepared.


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## 2x2isnot4

origumi: that is even more surprising, with the biblical references, I thought, for a sec, you were talking about maize. It is a very precious discovery for me, I am saying this at the cost offending other languages


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## Agró

2x2isnot4 said:


> Hello Agró, u are referring to maize, right?



I am referring to maize/corn (not wheat), right.


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## 2x2isnot4

Thank you, that is actually very interesting finding, especially the fact that it is referring to Morocco in Catalan ...


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## sokol

Actually the reason why in Austrian German maize is called "Türken" is that corn/maize came to Central Europe from the southeast: according to this site (it is in German) corn/maize came through Spain to Portugal and the north of Italy, and from there to the Balkans; only later it was imported north to Central Europe.

This site also gives two further (regional) names for corn/maize in *German *(I don't think they are used in Austria, they might be used in Germany only): _Türkischer Weizen _(Turkish wheat) and _Türkisch Korn _(Turkish corn), while supposedly, according to this site, Turks themselves called it _Egyptian Corn.
_
Austrian _Kukuruz _by the way also refers to the direction from where we took over corn/maize - to Kuruzzen = Hungarian fighters (Hungary lies to the south-east of Austria).

Catalan _Moorish wheat_ (mentioned from Agró) by the way might not refer to Morocco at all, I think it is much more likely that this name goes back to the _Moors _of Andalucía.


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## 2x2isnot4

Thanks SOKOL: I agree that use of Moor might refer to Andalucia too...It would make sense. Nevertheless, this is such a plant that everybody attributed to someone else, once in Europe. 

By the way, very helpful insights: It would be very hard to map how corn moved around in Europe but I suspect if we keep pressing and adding more languages to the list, there will be very surprising findings. There is a related discussion in Arabic now that I started:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1332255

In Turkish, it is "Mısır", which is simply Egypt, there is no separate word for "corn".


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## RoYaLa

I think in Russia is kukuruz too.

In Bulgaria it is: Царевица (tzarevitza, carevica,  'c' pronounced  "ts")


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## 2x2isnot4

RoYaLa:  thanks for the input,  do you think Царевица (tzarevitza, carevica, 'c' pronounced "ts") refers to a geographical location?


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## sokol

2x2isnot4 said:


> RoYaLa:  thanks for the input,  do you think Царевица (tzarevitza, carevica, 'c' pronounced "ts") refers to a geographical location?


It means just "Caesar's (corn)" or "the one of/from Caesar" - "Tsar" being the Slavic version of "Caesar", and -ev- + -ica being derivational suffixes (the first transforms "Tsar" into a possessive adjective, and the second one turns it back into a noun).


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## apmoy70

In Greek, corn's formal name is "αραβόσιτος" (arav*o*sitos) which literally means "Arabian wheat", probably because the plant was brought here in the 1700's from N. Africa. Colloquially it is called "Καλαμπόκι" (Kalamb*o*ki), after the Italian name for the white maize (Calambochi)


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## OldAvatar

Romanian:
_porumb_
Other archaisms or regionalisms:
_păpuşoi, cucuruz_, _gârnişor_, _mais_


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## Hakro

Finnish: maissi
Swedish: majs


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## sokol

On 3sat TV there's just running a documentary on maize/corn:

"Eine Hand voll Leben: Gechichte(n) vom Mais", a film by Gustav W. Trampitsch.

It seems that maize was known in Africa more than 250 years before 1492 when Columbus set sail.
It is not clear how maize got there - maybe Canarian Island explorers travelled to America long before Columbus did, and the Almoravides brought maize to Africa and later to the Iberian peninsula, Egypt and the Near East: but this all still is theory.

What is clear, according to that documentary, is only that maize was in the Old World long before Columbus discovered the New World.

So at least we know now (I think) while words for maize/corn refer to Moors, Egyptians, Turks, etc.: because this *is *the route maize took.


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## Outsider

There could have been several kinds of maize, some that were already present in the Old World, and others that had to be imported from the New World. Like with oranges.


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## Nanon

RoYaLa said:


> I think in Russia is kukuruz too.


Almost: it is кукуруза in Russian.
To Sokol: Vasmer's Russian etymological dictionary does mentions German (Austrian) Kukuruz as a Slavic loanword (ethnocentrism? maybe) but the origin of "kukuruza" itself is defined as "difficult" . 

You may wish to have a look at this thread for some Latin American variants of Spanish. Many of these words are for fresh corn (jojoto = Venezuela, elote = Mexico / Central America, choclo = Chile...).


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## kusurija

In Czech:
kukuřice (plant/seeds; name is synthetic made by Jan Svatopluk Presl in 19-th century)

In Lithuanian:
kukurūzas (plant/seeds)
burbuolės (spikes of seeds)


In Slovak_ and_ upper Sorbian:
kukurica

In Japanese:
玉蜀黍[to:morokoshi]


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