Names of Cereals in the Turkic Languages - Wydział Filologiczny UJ

cornzea mays l.Corn originates from the Mesoamerican centre. The first traces of cultivation of corn werefound in the Tehuacán valley, Mexico. They are dated around 5 th millennium BC, whilethe domestication probably happened between 10 th and 5 th millennium BC. The oldestremains of cobs of a cultivated form are dated 3000–3500 years BC and were found in thefifties in Bat Cave, Mexico (cobs from these period are just 25 mm long). The oldest pollenof a wild form was discovered in the city of Mexico and is about 80 thousand years old. Allpresently known forms of corn are domesticated; wild forms have not survived at all.Corn was extremely important for all the cultures of Central and South America, andwas also known in North America. It appeared very often, and it still does, as a motif inart, and it played a role in mythology and religious rituals. Columbus mentioned it as earlyas 5 November 1492, and brought it to Europe a year later when he came back from hisfirst voyage. From Spain (cultivations in Andalusia since 1525), it spread to Southern andCentral Europe (Fr. blé d’Espagne, G. Welschkorn), and to Middle East and Anatolia fromwhere it diffused further. Eastern and Central Europe (for the second time) learned aboutit later, from the Turks (cf. e.g. Slvn. turščica; Cz. turkyně; Pol. pszenica turecka and Fr. blé deTurquie, G. türkischer Weizen and türkisch Korn, It. granturco et al.). The Portuguese playeda great role in its circulation by delivering it to Java as early as 1496, to Angola about 1500,to China in 1516 and to the Philippines in 1520 (Nowiński 1970: 193–202.)The Latin name is a compound of Lat. zēa ‘type of grain’ + mays < Sp. maís, máis