curry
Curry, a spiced dish, is from Tamil kari, sauce; curry, to groom a horse, is from Old French correier, to put in order.[1][2][3]
Pronunciation
- IPA: UK /ˈkʌr.i/, US /ˈkɝː.i/[4]
curry1 spiced dish
Etymology
It is borrowed from Tamil கறி (kaṟi, “sauce, relish for rice”),[1][5][6] an earlier form carriel (1598) having come through Portuguese caril from Kannada karil.[1][2] Etymonline thinks it a blend of various south Indian words meaning black or burnt, and so applied to spices and meats.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
An Indian dish, as carriel: 1598,[1][7][6] the 1590s in Etymonline; the form curry is from 1681.[1][5]
Semantic evolution
Hobson-Jobson explains that in the East a small amount of a much more savoury preparation is eaten as a relish with the staple rice or bread.[8] Spicy sauces from outside India, such as Thai curry, are called curries by the 1680s,[2] and European dishes spiced in the Indian way from 1747 in British English;[2] Word Origins mentions a curry recipe in The Art of Cookery of 1747.[6] Curry as the spice blend is from 1780,[2] curry powder from 1810,[1] and the verb, to flavour with curry, from 1839.[1][2] Etymonline notes that in modern Indian cookery spice blends without turmeric are called masala.[2] Australian slang give someone curry, to attack them, is from 1941.[7]
Timeline
- 1598 – carriel.[1]
- 1681 – curry.[1][5]
- 1747 – European curries.[2]
- 1810 – curry powder.[1]
- 1839 – to curry (verb).[1]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A dish of meat, fish or vegetables cooked in a spicy sauce, originally from India.
- Curry powder, or a sauce made with it.
Verb
- To flavour or cook with curry.
Word family
- curry powder
curry2 groom
Etymology
It is borrowed from Old French correier (“to put in order, prepare, curry a horse”), originally conreier, probably through Anglo-French curreier,[1][2][3] from con-, intensive, and reier, to arrange, from rei, order, of Germanic origin (compare ready).[1][2][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
To rub down or comb a horse: about 1300 in Barnhart, the late 13th century in Etymonline.[1][2][3]
Semantic evolution
To dress tanned leather is from the 15th century,[3] and currycomb from the 16th.[3] Curry favour (about 1510) is a folk-etymological alteration of earlier curry favel (about 1400),[1][2] from Old French correier fauvel, to be hypocritical, literally to curry the fallow or chestnut horse,[1][2] which in medieval French allegory stood for deceit;[1][2] compare German den Falben streichen, to flatter.[2]
Timeline
- c. 1300 – to groom a horse.[1]
- c. 1400 – curry favel.[1]
- 15th century – to dress leather.[3]
- c. 1510 – curry favour.[1]
Modern meaning
Verb
- To groom a horse with a currycomb.
- To dress tanned leather.
- curry favour: to try to win approval by flattery.
Word family
- currycomb
- currier
Related words
- ready
- masala
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray