Why do we call dried grapes raisens and not just dried grapes like what they are!!!???
2007-01-31 21:17:38 · 11 answers · asked by ♥Lexi♥ 3 in Food & Drink ➔ Other - Food & Drink
you have many answers giving you reasons for raisens,if you like the long "dry grape" approach,call it that,nothing to stop you,i feel sure the raisin won't mind.
2007-01-31 22:21:59 · answer #1 · answered by dee k 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
For the same reason that you call dried plums "prunes". A lot of words in the English language are originally French (or Latin). French was the official language of England from the Norman invasion in 1056 until 1399, when the King addressed the Parliament in English. The word "raisin" is French for grape.
2007-01-31 21:39:23 · answer #2 · answered by anlarm 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cause otherwise we'd get confused?
'Dried grape' could be raisins, sultanas or currants**. Different tasting, different looking. But all basically dried grapes.
**Yes, the dried things we call currants aren't currants but a kind of little grape. Apparently they used to come from Corinth, and the name got corrupted (say Corinth with a French accent and you'll see how it could have happened!)
2007-01-31 21:29:04 · answer #3 · answered by phoenix2frequent 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Raisin is a word from 'Old French' (like Olde English) meaning grape. The French call them 'raisin sec' which means 'dry grape', however we already called grapes grapes so we nicked the word raisin sec and shortened it to seem less French
2007-01-31 21:29:20 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think that the words raisin and current were introduced to determine the difference between dried white grapes (currents) and dried red grapes (raisins)
2007-01-31 21:27:51 · answer #5 · answered by jesus_gav 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Like many of our words the origins lie in two languages. Grape comes from the Old English word, Raisin from Racinus the Latin word for grape. This is not unusual in English. Pig for the animal (Old English) and pork from Norman French. According to your reasoning we should call pork pig meat, beef - cow meat, mutton - sheep meat and so on. Words are words so use them they are beautiful.
2007-01-31 21:30:44 · answer #6 · answered by BARROWMAN 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Possibly because there are different names for different sorts of grapes: sultanas are white grapes, raisins are black ones and currants are a smaller black variety. In French raisins are "raisins de Corinthe" and currants "raisins de Smyrne", suggesting their geographic origins.
2007-01-31 21:30:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
duno about raisins but the currant got its name from the place where they were first produced..Corinth...and they were originally call corinths...but that sounds like someone with a speech impediment and so it changed to currant.
2007-01-31 21:33:54 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
mabie they thought that dried grapes was too long to say or too boring...so they invented a new word. thats what i think.
lea
2007-01-31 21:24:26 · answer #9 · answered by ditzylea 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Grapes because they are more juicy.
2007-02-01 02:01:53 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋