Ketchup or Catsup?

Question

Whats "up" with both of these ...ups

Answer 1

...take a deep breath...here we go:
[Q] From Suzanne: “Why is ketchup also called catsup?”

[A] Ketchup was one of the earliest names given to this condiment, so spelled in Charles Lockyer’s book of 1711, An Account of the Trade in India: “Soy comes in Tubbs from Jappan, and the best Ketchup from Tonquin; yet good of both sorts are made and sold very cheap in China”. Nobody seems quite sure where it comes from, and I won’t bore you with a long disquisition concerning the scholarly debate on the matter, which is reflected in the varied origins given in major dictionaries. It’s likely to be from a Chinese dialect, imported into English through Malay. The original was a kind of fish sauce, though the modern Malay and Indonesian version, with the closely related name kecap, is a sweet soy sauce.

Like their Eastern forerunners, Western ketchups were dipping sauces. I’m told the first ketchup recipe appeared in Elizabeth Smith’s book The Compleat Housewife of 1727 and that it included anchovies, shallots, vinegar, white wine, sweet spices (cloves, ginger, mace, nutmeg), pepper and lemon peel. Not a tomato in sight, you will note—tomato ketchup was not introduced until about a century later, in the US, and caught on only slowly. It was more usual to base the condiment on mushrooms, or sometimes walnuts.

The confusion about names started even before Charles Lockyer wrote about it, since there is an entry dated 1690 in the Dictionary of the Canting Crew which gives it as catchup, which is another Anglicisation of the original Eastern term. Catchup was used much more in North America than in Britain: it was still common in the middle years of the nineteenth century, as in a story in Scribner’s Magazine in 1859: “I do not object to take a few slices of cold boiled ham ... with a little mushroom catchup, some Worcester sauce, and a pickle or so”. Indeed, catchup continued to appear in American works for some decades and is still to be found on occasion.

There were lots of other spellings, too, of which catsup is the best known, a modification of catchup. You can blame Jonathan Swift for it if you like, since he used it first in 1730: “And, for our home-bred British cheer, Botargo, catsup, and caveer”. [Caveer is caviar; botargo is a fish-based relish made of the roe of the mullet or tunny.] That form was also once common in the US but is much less so these days, at least on bottle labels: all the big US manufacturers now call their product ketchup.

Simple question: complicated answer!

Answer 2

Ketchup

Answer 3

Ketchup, Catsup... Is the controversy really over?


For years the debate raged on...is that smooth tomatoey condiment properly spelled Ketchup or Catsup? Some would say...does it matter? And of course the answer is Yes. Although the current trend among manufacturers seems to be to use the spelling "Ketchup", "Catsup" lovers refuse to give in. Why? It’s a subject of interest to all that I would like to delve into. Let's start with where it all began...
Ke-tsiap or Kecap was a spicy pickled-fish condiment popular in 17th-century China and is said to be the origin of the name "ketchup." British seamen brought the ke-tsiap home, then introducing it to other nations. Catsup without tomatoes is almost unimaginable these days But it wasn't until the late 1700s that canny New Englanders added tomatoes to the blend and it became what we know today as ketchup. Even a century ago, catsup cooks were still only dabbling with tomato-based recipes, while also trying a surprising array of vegetables and fruits such as plums, walnuts, mangoes or mushrooms that were being turned into a condiment and called Ketchup. Not so talented cooks were also trying, shaved tree bark, pig parts, or dust-based catsups. None were successful among the masses...even with heavy onion and garlic added.
But how, you may say, can this be? One minute you have a fish sauce, and then suddenly you have tomato ketchup? When did we take the fork down the "tomato" catsup road? Perhaps it was in 1876 when Heinz produced their Ketchup with tomato and it made its way into the American kitchen. Then as more manufacturers entered the marketplace, so came more variations of the spelling. And so the controversy began. Soon there were Ketchups, Catsups, Catchups, Katsups, Catsips, Cotsups, Kotchups, Kitsips, Catsoups, Katshoups, Katsocks, Cackchops, Cornchops, Cotpocks, Kotpocks, Kutpucks, Kutchpucks and of course Cutchpucks. All were tomato based and bottled. All vied for the becoming the household word. But as these small locally produced and often homemade varieties went by the wayside and America entered the 1950's, it appeared as if only 3 major brands remained to steal the spotlight...Heinz Ketchup, Del Monte Catsup, and Hunts, who could not decide on a spelling and bottled under the names Hunts Catsup (east of the Mississippi), Hunts Ketchup (west of the Mississippi), and Hunts Tomato Cornchops (in Iowa only).
Now it was a matter of advertising dollars and a cunning advertising strategy as to which spelling would win out. But there were more failures than successes. Del Monte’s jingle “Even Cats like our Catsup!” drew a lawsuit from one customer who overfed it to her cat causing it to have stomach problems and hair with an unnatural red-orange glow. It ended after weeks of litigation with a million-dollar settlement and two years of free hairdying for the cat. Heinz trying to play up their spelling and new plastic bottle was ridiculed by English teachers everywhere for their promotion “You don’t need to ‘ketch’ it when it drops!”, forcing Heinz to make huge donations to the “Erase Illiteracy in America” program. In the end, no matter how hard they tried to set the name standard, the people remained divided. By the 1980's Americans had factioned into two groups, the Ketchupers and the Catsupers. (The Cornchoppers remained a subgroup of the Ketchupers for several decades until Hunts finally dropped the name when their mascot, Cornchoppy, who they sent around to promote the product, overindulged on cider at the State Fair and goosed the governor's wife during the apple pie judging, bringing disastrous press.)
Now the final battle began. In an attempt to raise their visibility, the Catsupers declared a slogan, "Its "Cat" not "Ket" so let's spell it that way! It’s simple to spell..Its simple to say!” which prompted the ketchupers to counter with "Catsup Schmatsup." Unfortunately the Catsupers were losing ground. No matter how hard they fought for ease of spelling, marketshare was going to the Ketchupers. The final straw came in the 1980's when Ketchup was declared a vegetable on the government's standards for school lunch menus. Suddenly Del Monte's Catsup, because of its spelling, was not on the approved list. Heartbroken Catsupers could see the end in sight. It wasn't long afterwards that Del Monte changed the product's name to Del Monte Ketchup. True Catsupers remain hopeful though. Catsuper President Vance Carson comments, "We're trying to get the government to add Catsup to its list of vegetables, too. But then the Mustard people heard this and they got all riled up and started a lobby, too. Then the Worcestershire Sauce people and the Mayonnaise people and the Salad Dressing people followed. All these other groups trying to be listed as vegetables suddenly boondoggled the entire campaign. And the name change is only Phase 1, too. Phase 2 will be reconvincing a manufacturer to use the name Catsup. Yea its a long battle...I don't know...sometimes I just don't know..." Ketchuper President Lyle Kent responds by throwing up his arms, "Its like they just can't let it go can they? Pack of sore losers."
So the controversy goes on.

Answer 4

Part of the country. Where I am from it's ketchup but where my father is from, it's catsup.

Answer 5

I see it spelled Ketchup,Catsup and Catchup!

Answer 6

ketchup...what the f*** is catsup. I hate that name.

Answer 7

Ketchup. under no circumstances observed it before in spite of the indisputable fact that the bottle says it truly is a celeb version. William Shatner is on the cover and needs you to attraction to close that Heinz" fixes burgers at warp p.c."...

Answer 8

ketchup all the way

Answer 9

catsup

Answer 10

Main Entry: ketch·up
Variant(s): also catch·up /'ke-ch&p, 'ka- /; or cat·sup /'ke-ch&p, 'ka-; 'kat-s&p/
Function: noun
Etymology: Malay kechap fish sauce
: a seasoned pureed condiment usually made from tomatoes