2720: UK / US Doublet Herb Names Jun 1, 2024

In the UK, ‘coriander’ refers to the ground up seeds (as it does in the US) as well as the leaves of the herb, while in the US, the relatively contentious spice ‘cilantro’ may be thought of as a flavor prominent in Latin cuisine, it is also simply latin. Both of these words come from the same origin, the Latin ‘coriandrum’ which was borrowed into English and then effectively borrowed again from Spanish with ‘cilantro’. This is not to be confused with ‘culantro’ which also comes from the same etymological root but it is a plant native to Central America. 

The same process occurs with British ‘rocket’, ultimately from the Latin ‘eruca’ is known in the US as ‘arugula’, also from ‘eruca’, though in this case introduced by Italian immigrants to America and widely adopted by the 1970’s to the point that ‘rocket’ for the name of the leaf is virtually unrecognized. The difference here compared with ‘coriander’ is that ‘rocket’ was heavily influenced by French, making it look more different to the original Latin.