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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

'oregano' [Was: Odd pronunciations of English words derived from French]

In discussions of the British pronunciation of "oregano" in this thread, it has been taken for granted that the word was adopted into English from Italian, although the word is spelled "origano" in the latter language.

Curious how the word was pronounced in earlier times, I checked The Century Dictionary,* an American dictionary of 1895. It was not listed there, but it was in *The Century Supplement* of 1909. It was pronounced /oU'reIgAnoU/. I usually pronounce it as indicated in MWCD11, as /@'reIg@,noU/. More interesting, than the pronunciation, however, was the etymology: The word was adopted into English from Spanish, *not Italian, and Spanish got it from Latin.
After this I did a search of the Google Groups archive, which revealed that the fact that the term "oregano" comes from Spanish had been mentioned previously in alt.usage.english .

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com
  

Top answer

[nq:1]In discussions of the British pronunciation of "oregano" in this thread, it has been taken for granted that the word ... [/nq] Footnote: Orig. rI'ga:noU) Ross Howard

  • [nq:1]In discussions of the British pronunciation of "oregano" in this thread, it has been taken for granted that the word ...
  • [/nq] Footnote: Orig.
  • rI'ga:noU) Ross Howard
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32 Answers
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[nq:1]In discussions of the British pronunciation of "oregano" in this thread, it has been taken for granted that the word ... archive, which revealed that the fact that the term "oregano" comes from Spanish had been mentioned previously in alt.usage.english .[/nq]
Footnote:
Orig. Sp ****: (o'regano)
Common BrE stress-mangling ****: (,A.rI'ga:noU)

Ross Howard
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[nq:1]Subject: 'oregano' (Was: Odd pronunciations of English words derived from French) From: "Raymond S. Wise" The word was adopted into English from Spanish, not Italian, and Spanish got it from Latin.[/nq]
I can't quite see why we need the word "oregano" at all. Is oregano not marjoram?
Peasemarch.
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[nq:1]I can't quite see why we need the word "oregano" at all. Is oregano not marjoram?[/nq]
Apparently, not always. The plants are related and the names are confused. I found:
http://www.sallys-place.com/food/columns/gilbert/oregano.htm

Let's start out with the fact that all
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[nq:2]I can't quite see why we need the word "oregano" at all. Is oregano not marjoram?[/nq]
[nq:1]Apparently, not always. The plants are related and the names are confused. I found: http://www.sallys-place.com/food/columns/gilbert/oregano.htm[/nq]
(snip)
[nq:1]In Spain there is T
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[nq:1]marjoram is O(riganum) mejorana.[/nq]
Self-¡Oye! It's actually O. majorana; it's the common name (marjoram) that's "mejorana", hence my confusion/typo/thinko/whatever.

Ross Howard
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[nq:1]Subject: Re: 'oregano' (Was: Odd pronunciations of English words derived from French)[/nq]
[nq:2]I can't quite see why we need the word "oregano" at all. Is oregano not marjoram?[/nq]
[nq:1]Apparently, not always. The plants are related and the names are confused. I found:[/nq]
Ah, this is more complicated than I thought.
So here's a similar question: is calabrese broccoli by
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[nq:2]Subject: Re: 'oregano' (Was: Odd pronunciations of English words derived ... plants are related and the names are confused. I found:[/nq]
[nq:1]Ah, this is more complicated than I thought. So here's a similar question: is calabrese broccoli by another name or something slightly different. I'm wondering why the name has changed in some greengrocers.[/nq]
I never heard of it myself. Di
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[nq:2]So here's a similar question: is calabrese broccoli by another name or something slightly different. I'm wondering why the name has changed in some greengrocers.[/nq]
[nq:1]I never heard of it myself. Did you try Googling? I can turn up references to it being a kind ... hard to locate any that say it isn't there are an awful lot of people named Calabrese out there.[/nq]
From OED2:
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[nq:2]I never heard of it myself. Did you try Googling? ... are an awful lot of people named Calabrese out there.[/nq]
[nq:1]From OED2: Calabrese A variety of sprouting broccoli. 1930 L. H. & F. Z. BAILEY Hortus 130 The Asparagus or ... and delicately flavoured of all greens. 1957 E. HYAMS Speaking Garden 58 Calabrese, perhaps the most delicious of all cabbages.[/nq]
Thanks, Ben. (I fear t
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[nq:1]My theory is that broccoli got a bad name in the days when President Carter said he didn't like it and that it had developed a dowdy image.[/nq]
Wasn't it the elder President Bush, or was there an earlier broccoli incident involving Carter?
[nq:1]Come the new cuisine and the principle of light steaming, perhaps the idea was to give brroccoli a new image in the guise of the trendier s

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