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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3 |
There seems to be a consensus from most dictionaries that the word semolina derives from the Italian semola, meaning "bran", which in turn comes from the Latin simila, meaning "fine flour". As bran and fine flour are basically opposites - does anyone know how this came to be?
If not - do you know any experts who I could consult with?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The ones at wordorigins did you just fine, I thought.
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
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I did not chime in at WO mainly because I've been too busy to do the necessary research. My random thoughts and observations: (1) Latin far 'spelt' also meant course '(course) meal' (related to our word barley); farina 'flour', flos farina 'flower of meal', i.e., the best of the meal, the finer. A monolingual Italian dictionary I consulted said that semola means 'bran', although in some southern dialects it means 'flour'. The word is rare, only showing up in Celsus and Pliny. I took a look at the Celsus passage where he discusses simila. He groups it in with the "windy" foods which cause flatulence and ought to avoided. You might want to find Watkins' article "Let Us Now Praise Famous Grains" (if you're interested, I can look up the citation).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
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To add some to the confusion the French use 'semoule' for coursely grinded wheat flour and finely grinded rice and potatoe flour. For finely grinded wheat flour they use 'farine'. Farine de maïs is not polenta ( that would be semoule de maïs), but maïs starch and 'fleur de farine' is a very fine type of wheat flour. I will spare you the dutch confusion. 
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3 |
A monolingual Italian dictionary I consulted said that semola means 'bran', although in some southern dialects it means 'flour'. The word is rare, only showing up in Celsus and Pliny. I took a look at the Celsus passage where he discusses simila. He groups it in with the "windy" foods which cause flatulence and ought to avoided. You might want to find Watkins' article "Let Us Now Praise Famous Grains" (if you're interested, I can look up the citation).
That's interesting - is there any way to know whether the usage in southern dialects is more or less recent than the other dialects? I found Watkins article - was there a particular passage that you thought was relevant?
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