162
NOTES AND QUERIES
with a Mexican name, was also brought to the Old World by the Spaniards. All of these plants crossed the Atlantic in Spanish bottoms and were then carried round the coasts of Africa and Asia to South China by the Portuguese. In the same way the sugar-cane, the banana and the yam were established in Brazil by the Portuguese and the cassava was introduced into West Africa where it has become the source of one of the staple foods of several countries.
The sweet potato, of course, presents special problems since there is reason to believe that it may have reached Polynesia in early times as an importation from the Americas. Nevertheless, it is not a native of the vast expanse of islands dotting the Pacific and it is much less likely that it came to China by that route than from the West,
The "kind of melon" of which the author speaks is known today in the Macanese dialect of the Hong Kong Portuguese as bobra Guiné (Guinea pumpkin). This word appears in Chinese characters (romanised as mó-pá-lá kin-ní by Mr. Luis Gomes in his Portuguese translation) in the Ao Men Chi Lüeh,? published towards the middle of the eighteenth century. The Chinese gloss has faan-kwa. It is likely then that this plant was introduced into China from West Africa or Guinea, to use the old name, and that the prefix faan cannot link this plant in any way with the Pacific area.
The rambutan (nephelium lappaceum), related to the lychee, is a Malayan tree and has a Malay name derived from rambut (hair), because of the hairy coat with which it is covered. This coat is of a reddish hue which no doubt explains the first element of its Malayan Cantonese name hung-mo-tán. The other elements are obviously phonetic renderings of the Malay word. This tree and its fruit were probably introduced to China by the Portuguese.
As a last comment on the element faan, are the faan-kwai not more often Westerners than people from the Pacific?
On the peanut, which, as Mr. Barnett says, bears no indication of foreign origin in its name, it appears to me that this plant may have been introduced to South-East Asia by the Portuguese. The botanists seem to agree that it is a native of Brazil and the Spanish chroniclers of the Indies describe it as a food-crop in Hispaniola
162
NOTES AND QUERIES
with a Mexican name, was also brought to the Old World by the Spaniards. All of these plants crossed the Atlantic in Spanish bottoms and were then carried round the coasts of Africa and Asia to South China by the Portuguese. In the same way the sugar-cane, the banana and the yam were established in Brazil by the Portuguese and the cassava was introduced into West Africa where it has become the source of one of the staple foods of several countries.
The sweet potato, of course, presents special problems since there is reason to believe that it may have reached Polynesia in early times as an importation from the Americas. Nevertheless, it is not a native of the vast expanse of islands dotting the Pacific and it is much less likely that it came to China by that route than from the West,
The "kind of melon" of which the author speaks is known today in the Macanese dialect of the Hong Kong Portuguese as bobra Guiné (Guinea pumpkin). This word appears in Chinese characters (romanised as mó-pá-lá kin-ní by Mr. Luis Gomes in his Portuguese translation) in the Ao Men Chi Lüeh,? published towards the middle of the eighteenth century. The Chinese gloss has faan-kwa. It is likely then that this plant was introduced into China from West Africa or Guinea, to use the old name, and that the prefix faan cannot link this plant in any way with the Pacific area.
The rambutan (nephelium lappaceum), related to the lychee, is a Malayan tree and has a Malay name derived from rambut (bair), because of the hairy coat with which it is covered. This coat is of a reddish hue which no doubt explains the first element of its Malayan Cantonese name hung-mo-tán. The other elements are obviously phonetic renderings of the Malay word. This tree and its fruit were probably introduced to China by the Portuguese.
As a last comment on the element faan, are the faankwai not more often Westerners than people from the Pacific?
On the peanut, which, as Mr. Barnett says, bears no indication of foreign origin in its name, it appears to me that this plant may have been introduced to South-East Asia by the Portuguese. The botanists seem to agree that it is a native of Brazil and the Spanish chroniclers of the Indies describe it as a food-crop in Hispaniola
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