igname

Forms

igname f (plural ignames)^[1] Older forms inhame (1602) and iniamo (1605).^[2][3] It was masculine at first and is recorded as feminine in 1832.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Portuguese inhame,^[2][5][1] the first European language to use the word (about 1500), which is probably borrowed from a Bantu language of West Africa, where the plant is native.^[2][5][3] The French word came first through translations: the 1515 form from an Italian text that was itself translated from Portuguese, the 1602 form through Latin and the 1605 form through Dutch, before it was borrowed orally in a 1654 travel account.^[2][5] Bloch and Wartburg take it instead from Spanish iñame (now ñame), which is said to be African.^[6][7] Wiktionnaire compares Wolof ñàmbi (“cassava”) and Fula nyami (“to eat”).^[8]

English yam (1580s) is from Portuguese or Spanish as well.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Igname is first found in 1515 in M. du Redouer's French version of an Italian account of the New World, for the tropical tuber plant.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The Portuguese, who took the plant to South America, were the first Europeans to name it.^[2][5][10] The word names a tropical climbing plant with large starchy tubers that are eaten cooked; in France it has stayed a learned or exotic word, but it is in everyday use in African and Pacific French.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – Portuguese inhame is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1515 – Igname appears in Du Redouer's translation.^[2][5]
• 1602 – The form inhame appears in a translation from Latin.^[2]
• 1605 – The form iniamo appears in a translation from Dutch.^[2]
• 1654 – Igname in Boyer's account of a voyage to America, borrowed orally.^[2][5]
• 1832 – Recorded as a feminine noun.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A yam: a tropical climbing plant of the genus Dioscorea with large, starchy tubers.^[11][2][1]
2. The tuber of this plant, eaten boiled or roasted: une purée d'ignames.^[11][2]

Related words

• patate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 20, 88b
8. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert