MAIZE / Zea mays

The name Corn is used more frequently than Maize in America (A W Smith), often varied to Indian Corn, or even to Indian Wheat (Britten & Holland) in England. It has also been dubbed Welsh Corn, Asiatic Corn or Turkish Corn (Turner, in 1548, also called it Turkish Millet). “Asiatic”, and “Turkish”, because the early herbalists of the 16th century believed the plant had been brought by the Turks from Asia. The Turks invaded Europe about this time, and brought many new plants into the west. Anything unusual was labelled “Turkish”, or perhaps it was confused with buckwheat, which was at one time specified as turcicum for some reason (Bianchini & Corbetta). “Welsh”, of course, must simply mean “foreign” (OE walch, or something like it).