Re: [tied] Re: cardinal points

On Sat, 10 May 2003 13:20:09 +0000, tolgs001 <gs001ns@...> wrote:

>>So what is the etymology?
>
>Well, mãlai seems to be millet; only that it has specialized
>on corn, while the related form mei [mey] is reserved
>for millet. (I don't know which of both - if any - is a direct
>derivation from milium.)

mei is clearly from mel^u < meliu < milium. Maize is also known as
"big millet" (Fr. mil gros), and in Basque the old word for millet
(<arto>) now means maize, while millet is known as <arto txiki> "small
millet". But I don't see how to derive mãlai from milium.

>>Is this "Malay corn"?
>
>This one would be nice. But I think we can be sure
>that, when they chose the word for the new plant
>and its produce, they hadn't heard of Malays.

Wouldn't be so sure. The Portuguese had reached Malaya by 1510 or so,
at about the same time maize was first brought to Europe.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...