Marshmallows
candyusa.com
History of Marshmallows Ancient Egyptians were the first to enjoy a gooey treat now called marshmallow as early as 2000 BC. The treat was considered very special and it was reserved for gods and royalty. Marshmallow was made from the...
      • Dasus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Yeah, it was the sap of marsh mallow that the Egyptians used.

        Saying that doesn’t mean that they think Egyptians used the English word “marshmallow”.

        Edit but it likely was something like their words for those things, which then got translated again and again and again.

        The original connotation didn’t reach us. My native language calls the modern sweet “foam candy” (vaahtokarkki)

          • Dasus@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            3 months ago

            Hattara.

            It doesn’t directly translate into anything. Sort of connotates the flimsiness of the product, but much else.

            Hattara sounds like it could be an iron age god tbh.

            Oh, oh. I wasn’t too wrong. Hattara is a Finnish mythical being. https://fi.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattara_(mytologia)

            In French, the word “hattara” means father’s beard, and in Greek, the word “hattara” means old women’s hair.

            I love etymology but Finnish ones aren’t as easy to figure out as English / other PIE languages

            • kofe@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              3 months ago

              Thank you for the reply! I’ve never been big on etymology but I might need to get more into it, that’s so neat.

            • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              3 months ago

              Apparently it’s based on the fact that the colour reminded people of the bacon used in mouse traps. Although it’s a bit unclear, it could also play into things that the first company to sell marshmallows en masse in Germany used mice-shaped ones.