Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Chocolate on Sunday
While sipping my hot chocolate, I decided that I wanted to find out the history of the word “chocolate.” Surprising to me, the Oxford English Dictionary came up with much information about the word. One of the many definitions of “chocolate” is that it is “A beverage made from the seeds of the cacao-tree; now, as distinguished from cocoa, that is made by dissolving chocolate cake in boiling water or milk.” These definitions make “chocolate” a noun, but it can also be used as an adjective. The definition for its use as an adjective is “Chocolate-coloured; dark brown; in U.S. spec. of certain soils.” It has its origins in Spanish (Mexican) language. However, it is believed that the Europeans had a role in the origin too. It seems that they had started to call their drinks made of cocoa “cacaua-atl” derived from the Mexican word for cocoa “chocolatl.” One of the earliest quotations comes from E. Grimston D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies IV. xxii. 271 (1604) in which it says “The chiefe vse of this Cacao is in a drinke which they call Chocolate.” A quote about the word’s use as an adjective can be seen in Jrnl. Trav. Arkansa vi. 99 by T. Nuttall. In the journal Nuttall states “The chocolate or reddish-brown clay of the salt formation.” Who knew that a word could have such a delicious history?