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COOK : QUICHUA NAMES OF SWEET POTATOES
origin of the sweet patato or, at least, of its wide distribution
in prehistoric times.
The general interest of !"he Quichua names lies in the fact that
cumara
or
kumara
is also the name of the sweet patato in the
Polynesian I lands.
This wa: fi.-st pointcd out by Seemann,
a botanist who had ·visitcd the l'acific Islands and the west
coast of South America about fifty years ago. Seernann's ob–
servation appeared as a bricf editorial note in connection with
a statement b.r the ethnologist Cra.wfurd, to the effect that no
communication could have taken place between the American
continent and the Pacific Isl:mds.'
The presence of thc Quichua name in Ecuador is readily under–
stood, the natiYe kingdom of Quito having been conqucred and
occupied by the Incas. Some of the enrly Spanish historians of
Peru recorded Inca traditions of voyages to islands in the Pacific,
but such a possibilit.r of communication betwcen the ,\mcrican
continent nncl the Pacific Islnnds ha not
~ccmcd
worthy of serious
consideration. Nevertheless, cultiYated plant s of American
origin appear to have eros ·cd the Pacific bdorc the arri,·a.I of
Europeans. Among these trans-Pacific plant s are thc coconut
palm, the bottle-gourd, ami thc swcet pot:lto. Coconuts and
gomds may be supposcd to haYe fl oatcd to thc lsl:mds and es–
tablished themselYes without human assistancc, but the sweet
patato and its namc could hardly be cOJwcycd in this IH:lnnei-.
Nor is it to be tuken as a mere coincidcncc that a Quichua na me
not shared with othcr ,\ merican languagcs should be associated
with the same crop in the Pacific Islands.
4
Cr:lwfurd
1
John. On
l.hcmigmLions
of
~>ulliv:d cd
pl:ml..:
in refcrcncc lo
ct.hnology. Sccu1aun's Journ:d uf Botany, 4: :.$2X.
i.SGG.
~< Thc
Swcct Pol:lto. or
tulwr-yic!Jin~
C(III\'U]vulus, :tppc:trs lo be a n:\livc of
umny purts of
thc tropi1·:d
OIJ :ulll X•:w \\'urld.
~omc
h:tvc :dl<·¡.:cd
th:1 1
it. was
first madc an
ohjcd of culti,·:u i(JII
by
thc natin
AlliC'rit"au:-:,
bu
t.
whcu
llu• South
Sea Islands,
whidt
had assurcdly
n11
co•nmuuic:ll ion with thc .\mcricrm pcoplc,
werc
discovcrcd, thc swcct putatn
was
fuullll to be in
eult.ivation,
nnd known hy
a
na
ti
ve name
throughout.
tite
word IJcing
esscnti:~ll.v
thc samc.
arul a
nntivc
onc
,·arying
only in
pronunciation,
ns
l~tllll'tt·a,
lw n'm',
and
yrwmlu
ahbrc,·inlcd
mili(/."
Sccmnnn's com1ncut on thc abovc slatcrncut wns
:1s follows :
''l /\.u11wra
o•·
umara,
of thc South-.':ica Isl:tndcr,.;,
i:;
idcnlic:d with
ctullm·,
tl1c Quichua namc for
swect
patato
in
thc
highlands of
Ecuador.- Ed.]