Tigridia pavonia

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net
Fri, 12 Aug 2005 13:37:01 PDT
Osmani, I've known the name El Cacomite for over thirty years; Mrs Wilder
cited it in her Hardy Bulbs, published originally in 1936. 

Last week, a friend and I were discussing a New York Times article by Daine
Ackerman about cochineal, the red dye developed by the Aztecs from scale
insects. I began to wonder what that word cochineal means, i.e. what its
etymology is. And I was wondering if there was any connection between the
words cochineal and cacomite (apparently not).

So when I was about to send the Tigridia post, I decided to Google the word
cacomite. The first hit I opened was a site for Nahuatl. You can take a look
at:

http://translate.google.com/translate/…
t/malinal/c/nahuatlCACC.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcacomite%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%2
6sa%3DG

If that long link does not work, here's the original page in French:

http://sites.estvideo.net/malinal/c/…


Now that I've got your attention, Osmani - and that of anyone else who knows
the Spanish language well - here's another question: is the word jaguar used
in Spanish? If so, how is it pronounced? Does the j of this word have the
sound of English h when pronounced in Spanish?

Jim McKenney
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where meaningful life outside
stops between 9 A.M. and 8 P.M. because of the stifling heat and humidity.
Passions are running high in the heat: Passiflora incarnata is in bloom. 


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