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Origin and history of buckwheat

buckwheat(n.)

common name of a type of grain that provides food for humans and animals, 1540s, from Middle Dutch boecweite "beech wheat" (compare Danish boghvede, Swedish bovete, German Buchweizen), so called from resemblance of the triangular grains to beech tree nuts. Possibly a native formation on the same model as the Dutch word, from a dialectal form of beech. See beech + wheat.

also from 1540s

Entries linking to buckwheat

beech(n.)

type of large forest tree noted for its smooth, silvery bark and its mast, which serves as food for animals, Middle English beche, from Old English bece "beech," earlier boece, from Proto-Germanic *bokjon (source also of Old Norse bok, Dutch beuk, Flemish boek, Old High German buohha, German Buche, Middle Dutch boeke "beech"), from PIE root *bhago- "beech tree" (cognate with Greek phegos "oak," Latin fagus "beech;" see fagus). Formerly with adjectival form beechen. Also see book (n.).

wheat(n.)

the cereal grain that furnishes flour, the chief breadstuff of temperate lands; also the plant which yields it; Middle English whete, from Old English hwæte "wheat," from Proto-Germanic *hwaitjaz (source also of Old Saxon hweti, Old Norse hveiti, Norwegian kveite, Old Frisian hwete, Middle Dutch, Dutch weit, Old High German weizzi, German Weizen, Gothic hvaiteis "wheat").

The word is is etymologically, "that which is white" (in reference to the color of the grain or the meal), from PIE *kwoid-yo-, suffixed variant form of root *kweid-, *kweit- "to shine" (see white; and compare Welsh gwenith "wheat," related to gwenn "white"). As a name for a pale gold color like ripe wheat, it is attested by 1915.

The Old World grain was introduced into New Spain in 1528. Wheat germ, the embryo of the wheat grain, valued for nutrition, is by 1897 (see germ (n.)). Wheaties, the cereal brand name, was patented 1925.

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    herb
    c. 1300, erbe "non-woody plant," especially a leafy vegetable used for human food, from Old French erbe "grass, herb, plant fed to animals" (12c., Modern French herbe), from Latin herba "grass, an herb; herbage, turf, weeds" (source also of Spanish yerba, Portuguese herva, Italia
    cereal
    1832, "grass yielding edible grain and cultivated for food," originally an adjective (1818) "having to do with edible grain," from French céréale (16c., "of Ceres;" 18c. in grain sense), from Latin Cerealis "of grain," originally "of Ceres," from Ceres, Italic goddess of agricult
    grain
    early 14c., "a small, hard seed," especially of one of the cereal plants, also as a collective singular, "seed of wheat and allied grasses used as food;" also "something resembling grain; a hard particle of other substances" (salt, sand, later gunpowder, etc.), from Old French gr
    primordial
    late 14c., "being or pertaining to the source or beginning," from Late Latin primordialis "first of all, original," from Latin primordium "a beginning, the beginning, origin, commencement," from primus "first" (see prime (adj.)) + stem of ordiri "to begin" (see order (n.)). The s
    brainstorm
    also brain-storm, by 1861 as a colloquial term for "fit of acute delirious mania; sudden dethronement of reason and will under stress of strong emotion, usually accompanied by manifestations of violence," from brain (n.) + storm (n.), which is attested in medical use as "paroxysm
    avalanche
    "fall or slide of a mass of snow on a mountain slope," 1763, from French avalanche (17c.), from Romansch (Swiss) avalantze "descent," altered (by metathesis of -l- and -v-, probably influenced by Old French avaler "to descend, go down," avalage "descent, waterfall, avalanche") fr
    try
    c. 1300, "examine judiciously, discover by evaluation, test;" mid-14c., "sit in judgment of," also "attempt to do," from Anglo-French trier (13c.), from Old French trier "to pick out, cull" (12c.), from Gallo-Roman *triare, of unknown origin. The ground sense is "separate out (th
    text
    late 14c., "wording of anything written," from Old French texte, Old North French tixte "text, book; Gospels" (12c.), from Medieval Latin textus "the Scriptures, text, treatise," in Late Latin "written account, content, characters used in a document," from Latin textus "style or
    waffle
    "kind of batter-cake, baked crisp in irons and served hot," 1744, from Dutch wafel "waffle," from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German wafel, from Proto-Germanic *wabila- "web, honeycomb" (source also of Old High German waba "honeycomb," German Wabe), related to Old High German weba
    family
    early 15c., "servants of a household," from Latin familia "family servants, domestics collectively, the servants in a household," thus also "members of a household, the estate, property; the household, including relatives and servants," abstract noun formed from famulus "servant,

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