2 2 MAIZE 



CHAP. Guatemala : aima (Xinca Indian). 



Guiana : marichi. 



Hayti: mahiz. 



Holland: mays, Turks koren, Turksche tarwe, Turkse 

 tarwe ; Turkische waitte (Groningen). 



Hungary : kukoricza (Magyar). 



India : the numerous Indian dialects produce a number of 

 separate names for the various crops grown. The name for 

 maize in most general use — in one or other of its forms — ap- 

 pears to be makal (Hindustani; Bihar); makkai (Panjab); 

 makka ' (Tamil) ; makka-janar (Bengal) ; makka-sholam ("Ma- 

 dras) ; mukka-bhuta (Hindustani) ; elsewhere makkajari, mok- 

 ka jonna, maki pyaungbu ; an alternative name in Bihar is 

 makaiya. 



Where the joar, Sorghum vulgare, has been the staple 

 cereal, its local name has been applied to maize, often with a 

 qualifying adjective, thus : makka-janar (Bengal) ; bari-jowar 

 (Oudh) ; bari-joar (Panjab) ; janara (Hindustani) ; janera 2 (in 

 the west) ; junora (Patna) ; and makkajari, mokka jonna, 

 junri and junala elsewhere. 



Other names in use in India are : kukri (Panjab) ; goom- 

 dhan 3 (Assam) ; zonalu (Telugu) ; cholam (Madras) ; djagoung, 

 mungari, and chhale. 



Sir George Grierson (I) gives the following words applied 

 in India to different, parts of the maize plant : — 



Stalks : dhattha to the west ; thathera to the north gener- 

 ally ; thathero (south Bhagalpur) ; dant or danti elsewhere. 

 The stalks are used for fodder under the name makai' ke dant 

 (Gaya). 



The Broken Stalk : lather (the north-west and in west 

 Tirhut) ; nighas or nighesa (east Tirhut) ; no special name for 

 this has been noted south of the Ganges. 



'The Madras Manual of Administration, Vol. Ill, s.v. cholam, derives 

 makka from mecca, saying that mecca means the west generally. According to 

 Sir George Grierson makka is generally said to be derived from Skr. markataka, 

 but the derivation from Mecca may or may not be true. 



2 Sir George Grierson gives a possible derivation of janer as Skr. yavanala, 

 and says that Platts derives junhar, another name for joar, from Skr. jivana-dhara. 



3 Dhan (Skr. dhanya) is the Assam word for rice. Mr. J. D. Anderson of 

 Cambridge says that in Assam, where rice is a staple crop, the word dhan is used 

 in the sense of com, and that goom means hidden or secret, and so "strange" or 

 " foreign," goomdhan meaning foreign com. 



