hominy

Englisch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɒmɪni/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• Homophone: harmony (god-guard merger and weak vowel merger)

Nomen

hominy (usually uncountable, plural hominies)

1. 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.

   Synonym: nixtamal

   • 1953, James Baldwin, “The Seventh Day”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN:

     Then his plate was put before him: hominy grits and a scrap of bacon. He wanted to cry, like a child: ‘But, Mama, it's my birthday!’

Derived terms

• hominy snow

Translations

a food made from hulled maize

• Aymara: mut'i
• Bulgarian: качамак (bg) m (kačamak)
• French: maïs lessivé
• Mopan Maya: k'u'um
• Navajo: bił haʼnigáhí
• Ojibwe: gijikonayezigan
• Polish: mamałyga (pl) f
• Quechua: mut'i
• Spanish: nixtamal (es) m
• Unami: pxiskteyo

Further reading

• hominy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia