hominy

English

Etymology

First recorded in 1629. From Powhatan ("Virginia Algonquian"), though the exact source word is in question: suggestions include uskatahomen,[1] appuminnéonash ("parched corn"),[2][3] and rokohamin (“parched, ground corn”)[4], the last yielding also the unclipped rockahominy.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈhɒmɨni/
(god-guard merger and weak vowel merger) Homophone: harmony

Noun

hominy (usually uncountable, plural hominies)

A food made from hulled corn (maize) kernels soaked in lye water, rinsed, then cooked and eaten; or, the rinsed kernels are dried and coarsely ground into hominy grits.

Synonyms

(hulled, lye-soaked, cooked kernels): nixtamal

Translations

a food made from hulled maize

Bulgarian: качамак (bg) m (kačamak)
French: maïs lessivé
Navajo: bił haʼnigáhí

Portuguese: canjica (pt) f
Quechua: mut'i
Spanish: nixtamal (es) m

References

"hominy", the Oxford Dictionary of English edited by Angus Stevenson (Oxford University Press, 2010) / Oxford Reference Online, accessed 5 June 2012: http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t140.e0384210
"hominy", An A-Z of Food and Drink edited by John Ayto (Oxford university Press, 2002) / Oxford Reference Online, accessed 5 June 2012: http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t134.e615
“hominy” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
listed in William Strachey's vocabulary of Powhatan

[1] "hominy", the Oxford Dictionary of English edited by Angus Stevenson (Oxford University Press, 2010) / Oxford Reference Online, accessed 5 June 2012: http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t140.e0384210

[2] "hominy", An A-Z of Food and Drink edited by John Ayto (Oxford university Press, 2002) / Oxford Reference Online, accessed 5 June 2012: http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t134.e615

[3] “hominy” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

[4] sted in William Strachey's vocabulary of Powhatan