Curry connection to Michael Currie
Curry is a dish with a spiced sauce, from the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent. It is now cooked in many countries. Despite the name of "curry powder", curry is not a single spice. It is a dish, and Indian curry sauces can use many spices; a meat curry may use as many as 15.[1]
Because "curry" sounds exactly like Michael Currie's last name, he is sometimes asked whether the two words are connected.
The short answer is no.
The word "curry" comes from South India, most likely from the Tamil word kaṟi, a spiced mixture eaten with rice. Michael's last name comes from the village of Currie in Scotland. The two words reached English from opposite ends of the world and only met in their modern spelling by coincidence.[1]
More details
Where "curry" comes from
- The source word may be Tamil kaṟi, a spiced mixture eaten with rice. Similar words exist in other Dravidian languages such as Malayalam, Kannada and Kodava, so English may have borrowed from several of them at once.[1]
- European traders picked the word up on India's coasts. It probably reached English through Portuguese caril or caris, or Dutch carrijl. Food historian Lizzie Collingham suggests that Portuguese traders in Goa borrowed local words that became caril or carree.[1]
- A Dutch travel book translated into English in 1598 mentions a broth called Carriel.[1]
- The first known use of the word in an English cookbook is Hannah Glasse's 1747 The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, which spells it "currey".[1]
- "Curry powder" is a ready-made spice blend that Indian merchants sold to European colonial traders. It was sold commercially in Britain from the late 18th century. It does not contain curry leaves, and the word "curry" does not come from the curry tree.[1]
Where "Currie" comes from
Michael's last name comes from John Currie, a Scot born in Galashiels, Scotland in 1846. John came to Canada on 8 June 1883 to work in the woollen mills of Almonte, Ontario. His youngest son Alex settled in Winnipeg, Alex's son Jack settled in Thunder Bay, and Jack's son Ron stayed in Thunder Bay and had Michael.
The Scottish surname Currie is a place name, taken from the village of Currie near Edinburgh. It comes from a Scottish Gaelic or Brythonic word for a wet or boggy plain, or for a dell (a small, sheltered, partly wooded valley). See the entry for ? Currie.
False cognates
"Curry" and "Currie" are false cognates: words that look and sound alike but have no shared origin. One comes from a Dravidian language of South India and the other from a Celtic place name in Scotland. A related term is false friends, words in two languages that look alike but mean different things.
The overlap is even closer for another Currie. Sir Arthur Currie's family spelled their name "Curry", exactly like the dish, from 1838 until he changed it in 1897. That name was itself an adopted replacement for the Irish surname Corrigan. See Arthur Currie connection to Michael Currie.
Timeline
| Date | Michael Currie's family John Currie → Alex Currie → Jack Currie → Ron Currie → Michael Currie |
The word "curry" Tamil kaṟi → Portuguese caril / Dutch carrijl → English "currey" → "curry" |
|---|---|---|
| 1598 | An English translation of a Dutch travel book mentions a broth called Carriel.[1] | |
| 17th century | A Portuguese cookbook describes kaṟi, learned through trade with Tamil merchants on the Coromandel Coast.[1] | |
| 1747 | Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy gives a recipe for "currey", the first known use of the word in English.[1] | |
| Late 18th century | Ready-made curry powder goes on sale commercially in Britain.[1] | |
| 1846 | John Currie born in Galashiels, Scotland. | |
| 8 June 1883 | John Currie immigrates to Canada. | |
| 1889 | Alex Currie born. | |
| June 1914 | Alex gets married. | |
| 10 June 1915 | Jack Currie born. | |
| 5 October 1947 | Ron Currie born to Jack. | |
| 8 June 1982 | Michael Currie born to Ron. |