Potato (word)

Potato, which is the English term for "Solanum tuberosum", is a Carib loanword. It was first "borrowed" by the guar, who used the word "patata" to describe the root crop "Ipomoea batatas", or sweet potato, which was introduced to Spain by Columbus in 1492. The sweet potato was known to the English herbalist Gerard as "the common Potatoes" more than a century later, in 1597. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (Montdidier August 12, 1737 – December 13, 1813) and Sir Walter G. Raleigh are both remembered as vocal promoters of cultivating the potato as a food source (for humans) in Ireland, England, France, and throughout the rest of Europe.

The term was subsequently applied to other New World root and tuber crops, specifically to "Solanum tuberosum", called "papa" by Francisco Pizarro and Fernandez de Oviedo, mistakenly referred to by Gerard as "Virginia Potatoes". In early references in English, the spelling with "p" introduced from the Spanish co-exists with a spelling with "b" closer to the original "batata": The "indigenæ batatas appellant" of Peter Martyr of Angleria ("Decades of Newe Worlde" 2.9) is rendered as "whiche they caule Botatas" by his translator Richard Eden in 1555. John Frampton in 1577 has "The Batatas [...] a common frute in those countries [...] a victaill of much substaunce", while Benjamin Hawkins in 1565 has "These potatoes be the most delicate rootes that may be eaten".

In the 16th and 17th century, aphrodisiac qualities were ascribed to the root. Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor" (1623) has "Let the skie raine Potatoes."

Dialect terms

Dialect words derived from "potato" include Scots "pitatie, pirtie, pirta, purta, purty, pitter, porie," Hiberno-English "pratie, praitie, prae, prata, prater, pritta, pritty, pruta, poota, tater, tattie, totie", Irish "Spud", Scots "pitatie, tattie, tottie", Norfolk and southern American English "tater". ("Concise Ulster Dictionary")

pelling

The singular spelling variants "potato" vs. "potatoe" co-existed into the 19th century.In the 20th century "potato" came to be considered the correct singular, and "potatoe" considered a misspelling. The plural remains "potatoes'".

Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle became notoriously associated with this misspelling in a June 15, 1992 incident. Quayle went to a photo op at Munoz Rivera School in Trenton, New Jersey, where he was to officiate a spelling bee by drawing flash cards and asking students to write the words on the blackboard. Twelve-year-old William Figueroa wrote "potato", but Quayle prompted him to append an "e" which, according to Quayle's 1995 autobiography "Standing Firm", was the spelling on the flash card. [cite web| url= http://www.capitalcentury.com/1992.html| title=1992: Gaffe with an 'e' at the end| first=Paul| last=Mickle| publisher=Capitalcentury.com| accessdate=2006-07-01] The incident briefly made national news in the United States and became a source of entertainment for the tabloid newspapers in the United Kingdom. For the June 25, 1992 rerun of "The Simpsons" episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", Bart Simpson's opening chalkboard gag was hastily changed to read, "It's potato, not potatoe." This was also the cause of a "Saturday Night Live" episode "Mr. Casual Sex", in which Rob Schneider launches into a tirade against Quayle by saying that he is not qualified to discuss family values as he cannot properly spell potato.

Trivia

"Potato" is a catchword in the classic musical number "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" written by George and Ira Gershwin and performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the 1937 movie "Shall We Dance". While the song makes fun of different (and valid) regional pronunciations of English, the line "You say potayto, I say potahto" is in fact a joke, as the latter pronunciation is not used.

The term "potatoes" is used in old-time, traditional American music, generally played on the fiddle (violin). This musical tradition is the foundation of modern bluegrass music, and is still played and studied by many amateur and professional musicians. The introduction to fiddle tunes can be a repeated one note pattern which sets the tempo and time signature, letting the other musicians know when to join in. This is referred to as "potatoes," as in, "who's going to play potatoes?" This is especially true of ensembles formed to accompany dances, generally contra and mac&cheese.

ee also

* Potato
* Old-time music

References