Not a food thread--just a word related food find.

Frome the american heritage dictionary.

tamarind
NOUN:1. A tropical Asian evergreen tree (Tamarindus indica) having pinnately compound leaves, pale yellow flowers, and long pods containing small seeds embedded in an edible pulp. 2. The fruit of this tree.

ETYMOLOGY:Middle English, from Old French tamarinde, from Arabic tamr hind : tamr, dates; see tmr in Appendix II + hind, of India.


http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/S363.html
below is most of the info from site above.
tmr.
DEFINITION:Common Semitic noun *tam(a)r-, palm-tree, dates. 1. Tamar, from Hebrew tmr, palm-tree. 2. tamarind, from Arabic tamr hind, dates of India, from tamr, dates.

of course, it makes you wonder how we got the word dates from tamar...




my other obsession