2227: Aubergine vs. Eggplant (& Why) Jan 19, 2021

Around the anglophone world, between 'eggplant' and 'aubergine', only the Brits and Irishmen favor the latter. First off, the name 'eggplant' comes as a description of the white variety [see photo], and not the more popular purple ones of today, though this same pattern is also found in other languages like Icelandic with 'eggaldin' or Welsh 'planhigyn ŵy'. Outside of that, the reason South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia also use 'eggplant' is that this term is slightly older than 'aubergine', with the written first record in the US from 1763. Now, the white variety are called 'garden eggs'. 'Aubergine' is not only popular in the UK but also much of Western Europe like in French and German because the more diverse varieties from Southeast Asia (brought via the Middle East), using the Arabic اَلْبَاذِنْجَان‎ (al-bāḏinjān) or literally 'the eggplant', originally from the Sanskrit वातिगगम (vātiga-gama) or 'plant that curls in wind'. The Arabic 'al-' turns to 'au-' in French, which is fairly typical. Other English speaking areas especially in Southeast Asia use the word 'brinjal'.