Italian Greens from Italian Queens: Difference between revisions
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When exactly this swap took place isn’t entirely clear. It was certainly a gradual process and not all of the new vegetables appeared in Poland at the same time. One way to search for some clues could be to take a look at linguistic data: when did Italian-derived names for individual vegetables first show up in Polish-language written sources? | When exactly this swap took place isn’t entirely clear. It was certainly a gradual process and not all of the new vegetables appeared in Poland at the same time. One way to search for some clues could be to take a look at linguistic data: when did Italian-derived names for individual vegetables first show up in Polish-language written sources? | ||
The earliest to settle into the Polish language – and, one might suspect, onto Polish tables as well — was ''sałata'',{{czyt|sałata}} or lettuce. The word ''“sałata”'' comes from the Italian ''“insalata”'',{{czyt|insalata}} which literally means “salted”. That’s because Italians had long served this vegetable seasoned with salt, vinegar and olive oil. Just like its Italian counterpart, the Polish word initially referred to both lettuce as such and a salad made of this and other vegetables (modern Polish distinguishes the two by referring to a salad by the diminutive ''“sałatka”''{{czyt|sałatka}}). The oldest known Polish text in which ''“sałata”'' appears — and in both senses, no less – is a herbal by Stefan Falimirz{{czyt|Stefan Falimirz}} published in 1534 under the title | The earliest to settle into the Polish language – and, one might suspect, onto Polish tables as well — was ''sałata'',{{czyt|sałata}} or lettuce. The word ''“sałata”'' comes from the Italian ''“insalata”'',{{czyt|insalata}} which literally means “salted”. That’s because Italians had long served this vegetable seasoned with salt, vinegar and olive oil. Just like its Italian counterpart, the Polish word initially referred to both lettuce as such and a salad made of this and other vegetables (modern Polish distinguishes the two by referring to a salad by the diminutive ''“sałatka”''{{czyt|sałatka}}). The oldest known Polish text in which ''“sałata”'' appears — and in both senses, no less – is a herbal by Stefan Falimirz{{czyt|Stefan Falimirz}} published in 1534 under the title ''On Herbs and Their Potency'' (''O ziołach i mocy ich''). | ||
[[File:Sałata.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|Lettuce in an illustration from S. Falimirz’s herbal (1534)]] | [[File:Sałata.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|Lettuce in an illustration from S. Falimirz’s herbal (1534)]] | ||
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Where, then, does the legend of Queen Bona introducing Mediterranean vegetables to Poland come from? Most likely, it arose as a Polish counterpart to a similar French legend about Catherine de’ Medici. If the French believed that the culinary riches of Italy had been brought to their country by a Renaissance queen from the peninsula, it must have seemed logical that a similar role could be attributed to Bona Sforza in Poland. We now know that the French version of this legend emerged during the Enlightenment. The Polish version, then, may well have its roots in the same era. | Where, then, does the legend of Queen Bona introducing Mediterranean vegetables to Poland come from? Most likely, it arose as a Polish counterpart to a similar French legend about Catherine de’ Medici. If the French believed that the culinary riches of Italy had been brought to their country by a Renaissance queen from the peninsula, it must have seemed logical that a similar role could be attributed to Bona Sforza in Poland. We now know that the French version of this legend emerged during the Enlightenment. The Polish version, then, may well have its roots in the same era. | ||
The earliest suggestion I’ve found that it was Bona who brought the Mediterranean veggies to Poland comes from the novel ''John of Tenczyn'' (''Jan z Tęczyna'') by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz,{{czyt|Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz}} first published in 1824. Niemcewicz – a distinguished figure of the Polish Enlightenment, co-author of the nation’s first constitution, personal secretary to the Polish and American hero Tadeusz Kościuszko,{{czyt|Tadeusz Kościuszko}} and the first Pole to receive U.S. citizenship – was also the author of Poland’s first historical novel. It is a fictionalized account of the true story of Jan Baptysta Tęczyński,{{czyt|Jan Baptysta Tęczyński}} a promising young aristocrat who fell in love with the Swedish princess Cecilia Vasa (and she with him) but tragically died in Danish captivity in 1563, before he could marry her. And it’s in the opening chapter of this Walter-Scottian romantic tale that we find the following passage: | The earliest suggestion I’ve found that it was Bona who brought the Mediterranean veggies to Poland comes from the novel ''John of Tenczyn'' (''Jan z Tęczyna'') by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz,{{czyt|Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz}} first published in 1824. Niemcewicz – a distinguished figure of the Polish Enlightenment, co-author of the nation’s first constitution, personal secretary to the Polish and American hero Tadeusz Kościuszko,{{czyt|Tadeusz Kościuszko}} and the first Pole to receive U.S. citizenship – was also the author of Poland’s first historical novel. It is a fictionalized account of the true story of Jan Baptysta Tęczyński,{{czyt|Jan Baptysta Tęczyński}} a promising young aristocrat who fell in love with the Swedish princess Cecilia Vasa (and she with him) but tragically died in Danish captivity in 1563, before he could marry her. And it’s in the opening chapter of this Walter-Scottian romantic tale that we find the following passage: | ||
[[File:Ogrody wawelskie.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A kitchen garden from the time of Queen Bona, as reconstruncted on the Wawel Hill]] | [[File:Ogrody wawelskie.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A kitchen garden from the time of Queen Bona, as reconstruncted on the Wawel Hill]] | ||