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Right, remember that when Middle English was around, the New World hadn't been discovered, so the word definitely was not applied to maize originally. This Brit
by Nomentatus 9y ago
Right, remember that when Middle English was around, the New World hadn't been discovered, so the word definitely was not applied to maize originally. This British usage still remains in place as far as I know. Those darned Brits - you'd think they invented the language, the way they sling it around any way they want!
- dragonwriter 9y ago> Right, remember that when Middle English was around, the New World hadn't been discovered Well, Middle English starts a couple centuries after the Norse settlement in North America, so that's not strictly true, even with the implict “by Europeans” restriction.
- Nomentatus 9y agoPoint taken, and worth noting, the English hadn't discovered the New World, but other Europeans, including Portugal, had. But maize wasn't grown anything like that far north!!! Maybe as far north as Missouri, where there were dense populations, but not further. So, yes, it is strictly true that maize would be unknown in England then. But c'mon man, "the Oxford English Dictionary specifies the period of 1150 to 1500" so when the usage was established in England only Vikings had reached the New World, in Newfoundland, etc.
- dragonwriter 9y ago> So, yes, it is strictly true that maize would be unknown in England then. Yes, it's strictly true that maize would (almost certainly) be unknown, just not because North America hadn't been discovered by cultures in contact with England prior to the point of time in question.
- Nomentatus 9y agoYou could simply have said "we now agree," I believe.