Maize: Origin, Domestication, and its Role in the Development of Culture

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Maize: Origin, Domestication, and Its Role in the Development of Culture
Welschkorn (the description is on folio 223 of the 1570 edition). He believed that
it should be called Frumentum asiaticum, thus suggesting that he believed its
origin was in Asia. For southern Germans, welsch means an immediate source –
Italy – and asiaticum means that it came from Asia Minor. We owe De Candolle
(1959) for the first use of Frumentum turcicum (1536), which he attributed to
Jean Roel(ius) of Paris. By the way in which he describes the plant, it seems that
he had never seen it, and that he described it because he had heard of it, and it
was thus unknown in northern France.
Leonhard (Leonhart) Fuchs, who has already been mentioned, was the
most renowned herbalist. His work was published in 1542 (Stuler, 1928: 231).
The fine wood engraving depicted in Figure 2.1 bears the names Turcicum
Frumentum and Türckisch Korn. It is explained that it was brought first from
Greece and Asia, which were at the time under Turkish control. Two illustrations
before that of Fuchs are known. The first of these is an Italian translation
of the first book of Fernández de Oviedo, which was published in Venice in
1534. The drawing probably was of maize plants that actually grew close to
the city. The second drawing may be a reduced copy of the first and was published
in Seville in 1535. Another illustration appeared in the 1556 work of
Ramusio, also published in Venice, which reproduces parts of Fernández de
Oviedo’s work. The name “Turkish grain” (granoturco) survived in Italy, along
with several variants that will later be mentioned, but in the Friuli it was known
as “Turkish sorghum” (sorgo turco), and as “soturco” in the Venetian dialect
(Sauer, 1969b: 149–151, 159).
Much has been written on the origins of the name granoturco, and scholars
do not always agree. It is possible that this term had its origin in Andalusia, for
Arab farmers may have taken it to Turkey, where it was known as kukuruz. In
England the name may have nothing whatsoever to do with the Turks, as it
was called “wheat of turkey” because it was the grain with which the turkeys
were fed.
Father Acosta, who wrote in the late sixteenth century, mentioned in his
work “. . . the grain of maize, which in Castile is called wheat of the Indies, and
in Italy Turkish grain” (Acosta, 1954: 109). Prescott (1995: note 18, 110)
points out that the term blé de Turquie is a mistake of European origin. 7 We
know that in France maize was known as Blé turc (Turkish wheat) for five centuries.
This apparently was a transcription error made by a botanist who confused
maize with buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum, of the Polygonaceae family),
or perhaps the confusion arose from confusion between India and the Indies.
There can be no question that the terms blé turc or blé d’Inde actually mean blé
des Indes (Gay, 1987: 459).
Maize was given several names in Italy. The most common ones were
granoturco or granturco, granone, grano siciliano, melica or meliga or melega,
7
For more details, see Haudricourt and Hédin (1987: 223).