As I’ve mentioned
in previous posts, Latin means different things to different people. While the
focus in this group has always been on Classical Latin language (with
occasional forays into Mediaeval) leading to an understanding of the
literature, there are those who may wish to read the Vulgate which, from a
language perspective, is a tremendous source of grammatical ideas often
expressed in simple form. Equally, there are others who enjoy Mediaeval texts
and – arguably less enjoyable – getting to grips with the scribes’ handwriting.
All of it is Latin; it isn’t the exclusive property of the Ancient Romans.
But I find the
Latin of the Renaissance fascinating: here you have dedicated scientists and
explorers in various fields who want to communicate their observations and
discoveries to their counterparts throughout Europe – and, for the most part,
they did that in Latin thereby allowing for a maximised educated readership.
The key word is discoveries:
if it’s new, if it didn’t exist or was unknown from the Classical period, through the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages,
then there’s no Latin word. Therefore, one has to be created – either by a
reworking of an original Classical Latin term, or a completely invented one – at
which point we can describe the word as Neo-Latin i.e. the word was needed to
fulfil an academic function. That, however, did not stop and, my last
‘interest’ group are those who wish to practise the language by speaking it
and, in particular, relating it to their own lives in exactly the same way as a
non-native learner of, for example, French or German would do.
In that context, the
humble, but necesssary potato does get a lot of attention. As the song (sort
of) goes: “You say potato, and I say tūber sōlānī”
What did the
Romans actually say? Well, they didn’t say anything at all – because they
didn’t have them, nor did Europe even know about them until Spanish
conquistadors came across them in Peru in 1537.
That, of course,
leads (inevitably) to a debate:
https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disputatio:Patata
“What to call
potatoes in Latin is proverbially thorny. Like bus. No two Latinists can
agree.”
I particularly
liked this comment:
“Solanum
tuberosum (in context just ‘solanum’ might work, but is kinda
dicey)” i.e. beware the Classical Thought Police knocking on your door at 2
in the morning!
I would suggest
you pick one Latin potato – and stand your ground to the death, but here are
some reasonable suggestions; I particularly like the first one, but I am
keeping a look-out for the Thought Police:
[i] pōmum, -ī
[2/n] terrestre; that’s a calque, a word for word translation from
another language i.e. French pomme de terre and German (Austria; South
Germany): Erdapfel
pōma terrestria frīcta:
French fries i.e. fried potatoes (or, if you’re a die-hard British
English fan: chips)
From Minimus,
the fabulous Latin textbook for kids (and for adults who don’t take life too
seriously):
mūrēs prandium sub
dīvō fruēbantur, sed larus pōmum terrestre frīctum surripit │ the mice
were enjoying a picnic lunch, but a seagull is stealing a chip
[ii] sōlānum
tūberōsum: the key word is solānum, a term given to a category of plant
species that includes peppers, potatoes and aubergine; sōlānum, -ī [2/n] in
Classical Latin means nightshade i.e. the genus of plants to which the potato
belongs are mostly poisonous
tūberōsum < tūberōsus,
-a, -um: ‘lumpy’; with protuberances
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Solanum_tuberosum
tūber sōlānī <
tūber, -is [3/n]: lump; bump; swelling
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tuber
A tūber sōlānī
– a baked one, to be precise – is what Harry Potter eats in the Latin
translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Harrius Potter
et Philosophī Lapis
https://archive.org/details/rowling-j.-harrius-potter-et-philosophalis-lapis/mode/2up
Harrius tūber
sōlānī pelliculātum sibi sūmēbat cum Professor Quirrell in Atrium
ruit, mitrā oblīquā et vultū perterritō.
Harry was just
helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting
into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face.
pelliculātus, -a,
-um: covered with skin
When this kind of
situation arises (it happened when I was looking for the “best” Neo-Latin for
‘piano’), I usually research it first, look for examples in reliable texts, try
to find earliest attestations of the word (although, this time, I wasn’t entirely
successful) – and, in particular, check the frequency with which the
word occurs. Then – and only then – do I turn to the NeoLatin Lexicon because
it can sometimes be misleading or have listings with little consensus. In this
case, pōmum terrestre, pōma terrestria frīcta, and tūber
sōlānī were all listed at:
https://neolatinlexicon.org/latin/potato/
and
https://neolatinlexicon.org/latin/french_fries/
[iii] patāta, -ae
[1/f]: potato
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patata#Latin
https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patatae_frictae
[iv] batata, -ae
[1/f] : sweet potato
https://neolatinlexicon.org/latin/sweet_potato/
Both of these have
their origins in Spanish but they are variants from the same source i.e. the Taíno
language which was spoken in the Caribbean, where the word referred to sweet
potato.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/batata#Spanish
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patata#Spanish
First described as
papas peruānōrum (potatoes of
the Peruvians) in: Rāriōrum plantārum historia (1601) by the botanist
Carolus Clusius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolus_Clusius
That, however, is not
the term used today.
In the end, this
kind of research is interesting, but not life-threatening! Maybe you say pōmum
terrestre, somebody else insists it’s tūber sōlānī and somebody just
bought some patātae frīctae from the thermopolium of McDonalds, but the grammar
is accurate and the meaning is clear – and no Roman will correct you since they
didn’t know what they were!
Out of curiosity,
I threw the question into chatgpt which informed me:
“All are correct
in different contexts — pomum terrestre is just the most charming one.”
