Is ketchup a Cantonese word?
A popular folk etymology is that the word came to English from the Cantonese "keh jup" (茄汁 ke2 zap1, literally meaning "tomato sauce" in Cantonese).
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A popular folk etymology is that the word came to English from the Cantonese "keh jup" (茄汁 ke2 zap1, literally meaning "tomato sauce" in Cantonese).
As American as this condiment may seem, the word apparently comes from the Chinese language. Via the Malay kəchap (“fish sauce”), ketchup is believed to derive from two Chinese forms: kéjāp (Guangdong) and ke-tsiap (Xiamen).
From China to England The word ketchup is derived from the Chinese word ke-tsiap, meaning a pickled fish sauce. This mixture was mainly added to recipes to season a dish, versus served as a condiment.
In short the ketchup we consume as English is manufactured by Chinese in Hongkong, sent to England and… … Heinz launched its tomato ketchup in 1876, so the HK version might have beaten the American to it.
A tomato-vinegar based sauce.
Malay theory Ketchup may have entered the English language from the Malay word kicap (pron.
Candy has its origins mainly in Ancient India. Between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, the Persians, followed by the Greeks, discovered the people in India and their "reeds that produce honey without bees".
It turns out ketchup's origins are anything but American. Ketchup comes from the Hokkien Chinese word, kê-tsiap, the name of a sauce derived from fermented fish. … The British likely encountered ketchup in Southeast Asia, returned home, and tried to replicate the fermented dark sauce.