On Food and Cooking

Food    Words:  Turkey

Ornithological and geographical confusion
appear to be responsible for the common
names of this bird, which came late to
Europe. The turkey was first seen by the
Spanish in Mexico around 1518, and they
named it with variants on the word pavo,
“pea fowl.” In most other European
languages its early names referred to India:
French dinde, dindon (d’Inde, “of India”),
Germ an Kalikutische Hahn (“hen of
Calicut,” an Indian port), Italian pollo
d’India (“fowl of India”). The turkey was
indeed in India by 1615, so it could well
have been introduced to much of Europe
via Asia. The English connection with
Turkey goes back quite early, to around
1540, and is more obscure. It may reflect a
vague impression that the bird came from
some outpost of the exotic Ottoman
Empire, which originated in and was
identified with Turkey.