| 词汇 | cinnamon |
| 词源 | cinnamon. Cinnamon was called Kinnamomon by the Greeks, who may have adapted the word from an earlier Semit- ic one. The bark of the tropical cinnamon tree (Cinnamonum zeylamium) yields cinnamon, which has been used as a spice for thousands of years. Most of it comes from Malaya and In- donesia, and the Arabs, seeking to keep their monopoly on trading it, concocted some incredible tales about its harvesting. The Greek historian Herodotus repeated this story: What they say is that the dry sticks . . . are brought by large birds which carry them to their nests, made of mud, on mountain precipices which no man can climb, and that the method the Arabians have invented for getting hold of them is to cut up the bodies of dead oxen, or donkeys, or other animals, into very large joints which they carry to the spot in question and leave on the ground near the nests. They then retire to a safe distance and the birds fly down and carry off the joints of meat to their nests, which, not being strong enough to bear the weight, break, and fall to the ground. Then the men come along and pick up the cinnamon, which is . . . exported to other countries. |
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