Turnip (terminology)

The word "turnip" can refer to any of the following three vegetables:

  • Turnip (white turnip, summer turnip, Brassica rapa rapa)
  • Rutabaga (yellow turnip, Brassica napus or B. napobrassica)
  • Jícama (Mexican turnip, yam bean, sweet turnip, Pachyrhizus erosus)

Regional differences in terminology

Regional differences in terminology are summarised in the table below.

Scientific term Brassica rapa rapa Brassica napus or B. napobrassica Pachyrhizus
Southern England, most Commonwealth countries turnip swede (from "swedish turnip") yam
Scotland, North East England, Ireland, the Isle of Man, white turnip turnip, yellow turnip or "neep" yam
Cornwall turnip turnip  
United States, South Yorkshire turnip rutabaga or yellow turnip jicama
Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines     turnip
also called white turnip or summer turnip yellow turnip or winter turnip sweet turnip

Brassica napus and B. napobrassica are mostly called swedes (a shortening of Swedish turnip) in England, especially in the South, and in most dialects of the Commonwealth. Rutabaga, from the Swedish rotabagga, for "root bag" is mostly used in North America, in the United States and some parts of Canada. The rutabaga or swede differs from the turnip (Brassica rapa) in that it is typically larger and yellow-orange rather than white. In the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada, the yellow-fleshed variety are referred to as "turnips", whilst the white-fleshed variety are called "white turnips".

However, in some dialects of British English the two vegetables have overlapping or reversed names: in the north of England and Scotland, the larger, yellow variety may be called "yellow turnip" or "neep" (from folk etymology), while the smaller white variety are called "swede" or "white turnip". The yellow-fleshed type are known as "narkies" in Sunderland, and in past years used to be hollowed out and used as lanterns at Halloween.[1]

Other vegetables

Kohlrabi is also called German turnip, turnip cabbage or cabbage turnip,[2] although there the stem, not the root, is the enlarged part.

References
  1. Smillie, Susan (25 January 2010). "Are 'neeps' swedes or turnips?". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  2. dict.leo.org accessed 24-May-2009 12:40 PM CEST
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.