potato English · revision 7614

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1555|origins=tnq batata}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pəˈteɪ.toʊ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|es|patata]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) a variant of Taino [[m|tnq|batata|t=sweet potato]], from the Carib language of Haiti,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) probably influenced by or blended with Spanish papa, potato, from Quechua.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The sweet potato: 1555 in the OED, 1565 in Barnhart and MWU, in Sir John Hawkins' ''Voyages'', the 1560s in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Sweet potatoes were the first to reach Europe, in cultivation in Spain by the mid-16th century,^(Etymonline) and the Century Dictionary noted that English writers generally meant them by potato until the mid-17th century.^(Etymonline) In the 16th and 17th centuries they were thought to be aphrodisiac,^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021) and Word Origins explains Falstaff's ''let the sky rain potatoes'' in ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' this way.^(Cresswell 2021) The name was extended in 1597 (the 1590s) to the white potato, native to the Pacific slopes of South America,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) by likeness of the two edible tubers;^(Hoad 1986) it was at first mistakenly called the Virginia potato, by false association with Sir Walter Raleigh.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The tuber of the white potato as food is from 1663.^(OED 1989) Popular tradition says that John Hawkins introduced it to Ireland in 1565, and that Thomas Herriot brought it to England in 1586.^(Etymonline) Anglo-Irish pratie is from 1781.^(OED 1989) German Kartoffel is from Italian tartufolo, truffle, and French has pomme de terre, earth-apple.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1555 – the sweet potato.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1597 – the white potato.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1663 – its tuber as food.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1781 – Anglo-Irish pratie.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A South American plant (Solanum tuberosum) grown for its starchy edible [[tuber|alt=tubers]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The tuber of this plant, cooked and eaten as a [[vegetable]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A [[sweet potato]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tater]]

+ * [[couch potato]]

+ * [[duchess potatoes]]

+ * [[hot potato]]

+ * [[Irish potato]]

+ * [[meat and potatoes]]

+ * [[new potato]]

+ * [[O'Brien potatoes]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[batata]]

+ * [[sweet potato]]

+ * [[spud]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural is potatoes.^(Collins 2023) A ''hot potato'' is an awkward or delicate matter.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}