Is a carrot actually the root of the "car" or "ca" plant?

Question

A carrot is actually the root of a whole plant, right? So in ancient times was this plant known as the Ca or Car plant? Or has it always been idenfied with its root?

Answer 1

English gets the word "carrot" from French, which got it from Latin, which got it from Greek. The Indoeuropean root is ker which means horn. Since the plant above the root does not have anything which resembles a horn, it must have been named after the root, which does resemble a horn.

[French carotte, from Old French garroite, from Latin carōta, from Greek karōton; see ker-1 in Indo-European roots.]

ker-1
Horn, head; with derivatives referring to horned animals, horn-shaped objects, and projecting parts. Oldest form *er-, becoming *ker- in centum languages.
Derivatives include horn, unicorn, hornet, reindeer, migraine, cheer, rhinoceros, and cerebrum

V. Extended zero-grade form *kə-.


1. CHARIVARI; CHEER, from Greek karē, karā, head.
2. CAROTID, from Greek karoun, to stupefy, be stupefied (< "to feel heavy-headed").
3. CARROT, CAROTENE, from Greek karōton, carrot (from its hornlike shape).

Answer 2

This is more of a philology question. No, the plant wasn't known as the Car or Ca plant. Just because there is a word that looks like "root" in Latin, it doesn't mean that it means root in Latin. It's called a false cognate. Like in Spanish, "embarazada" doesn't mean "embarrassed," it means "pregnant". What about Queen Anne's Lace? It's technically a wild carrot, so how come everybody knows it by its flowers (which look like lace?) The family name is Umbelliferae--the flowers look like umbrellas (they're umbrels.) I can't remember the -aceae ending. Nice try, but you can't always link words in one language to similar words in other languages.

Answer 3

I think its always been identified with its root.

The extra "R"s are often dropped.

Researching the etymology of such a word isn't easy, but you may try a dictionary. They often contain the roots of the word (great pun, huh?).

The Latin binomial for the Carrot is Daucus carota. One wonders if the -rot refers to root, where does the "a" fit in?