{"id":34179,"date":"2024-08-16T16:37:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T21:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=34179"},"modified":"2024-08-16T16:44:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T21:44:30","slug":"corn-maize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=34179","title":{"rendered":"Corn \/ Maize"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I was a Younger Elder<\/strong>, I thought I noticed an anachronism in the Bible. Jesus and his disciples were gleaning corn on a Sunday, and the local proto-MAGA trolls were criticizing Him for working on the Sabbath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corn was a new world crop, and wouldn’t appear in Jerusalem for 1,500 years. So what gives? Turns out that much of the European world uses the word “corn<\/strong>” for any grain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The name maize <\/strong>is preferred in formal, scientific, and international usage as a common name because it refers specifically to this one grain, unlike corn, which has a complex variety of meanings that vary by context and geographic region. Most countries primarily use the term maize, and the name corn is used mainly in the United States and a handful of other English-speaking countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historian of food Betty Fussell writes in an article on the history of the word corn in North America that “[t]o say the word corn is to plunge into the tragi-farcical mistranslations of language and history<\/strong><\/em>“.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But without the word “Corn”, we’d have “Maize Mazes”<\/strong>. Oh dear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Corn \/ maize is actually a grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[Maize<\/strong>] was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte<\/strong>…. Maize requires human intervention for it to propagate. The kernels of its naturally-propagating teosinte ancestor fall off the cob on their own, while those of domesticated maize do not.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Elder G gives us a little background:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Agriculture began around 10,000 to 12,000<\/strong> years ago, during a period known as the Neolithic Revolution<\/strong>. This era marked a significant transition from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of farming and settled communities. The earliest evidence of agriculture comes from the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, particularly in areas that are now part of modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these regions, people began domesticating plants like wheat, barley, and legumes, and later on, they domesticated animals such as sheep, goats, and cattle. This shift to agriculture allowed for the development of more permanent settlements and eventually led to the rise of complex societies and civilizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maize, or corn, has its origins in Mesoamerica, where it was domesticated around 9,000 years ago<\/strong> from a wild grass called teosinte<\/strong>. It became a staple crop for many indigenous cultures in the Americas, especially in regions that are now Mexico and Central America. Over time, maize spread throughout the Americas and became a crucial part of the diet and agricultural practices of various civilizations, including the Maya, Aztec, and Inca.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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