curry

Overview

Meaning Now

• A dish of meat, vegetables, or legumes cooked in a sauce seasoned with a complex combination of spices, typically including turmeric, cumin, coriander, and chili peppers.
• A spice mixture or paste used to flavor such dishes.

Journey

The term entered English through the Portuguese who encountered the Tamil word 'kari' while establishing trade in Southern India. It became a generic catch-all term used by the British in colonial India to describe a wide variety of spiced dishes, often oversimplifying the diverse culinary traditions of the Indian subcontinent.

Evolution

1. Old Tamil

   kari

   “sauce; vegetable dish”

2. 16th-century Portuguese

   caril

   “a sauce or relish”

   Adopted by Portuguese traders in India.

3. 17th-century English

   currey

   “a spiced sauce”

   The spelling stabilized to 'curry' by the 18th century.

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