A Mixed Bag

(image from the Thames and Hudson website. Picture is a link.)

So I'm reading this book. And it's pretty good. However, it goes into the most incredibly, excruciating, sometimes tedious detail about the Mesoamerican origins of every tiny detail of chocolate. Here's an example:

On the subject of the noun "chocolate":
"Exactly what is the origin of this neologism? Here we enter the murky realm of supposition. The authoritative Diccionario de la lengua espanola of the Royal Spanish Academy claims that it derives from the Nahuatl chocolatl (thus agreeing with Merriam Webster['s dictionary]), which, in turn, is based on choco, 'cacao,' and latl, 'water.' Mexican linguists rightly hold this etymology in derision, since neither of the latter exist in Nahuatl. A more informed school of thought would have it transformed from a hypothetical xocoatl, based on xoco-, the root for 'bitter,' and atl, 'water.' This is possible, but unlikely, since there is no strong justification for altering the sound x (like English sh) to ch, and inserting an l."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... So why do I keep reading? Because on the facing page we find this deliciously filthy gem explaining why imperialists force native cultures to change certain words that sound too much like dirty words in the imperial language:

"The caca of cachuatl falls into this category. In most Romance languages, and in the Latin from which they descend, this is a vulgar or nursery word for feces, and is often compounded to make other words and even verbs describing defecation. Spanish is definitely one of these languages (we can even find the term cacafuego, [figure it out yourself], in an early 18th century Spanish-English dictionary). It is hard to believe that the Spaniards were not thoroughly uncomfortable with a noun beginning with caca to describe a thick, dark-brown liquid drink which they had begun to appreciate. They desperately needed some other word, and we would not be at all surprised if it was the learned friars who came up with choclatl and chocolate."

Oh, dear. It reminds us of our experience in New Zealand, where some towns have names quite different from what is on the map. Victorian settlers apparently found some Maori words too dirty to repeat, so they changed a whole set of "F' sounds to "Wh" sounds. Thus, the town called Whakapapa on the map is pronounced...