Ginger has been apparently one of the oldest spices, traded throughout history longer than most other. With the first written references coming from Confucius, from 5th century BC, where he writes that “he ate ginger at every meal”.
Confucius was a wise man who knew that ginger has the abilities to reduce the toxicity of some herbs and foods and aid digestion.
Ginger is indigenous to south China, where Chinese believed that the long term use of fresh ginger may put a person in contact with the spiritual and where today it is still highly praised for its medical, among culinary value.
From China, ginger made its way to other parts of Asia and subsequently to West Africa. To Europe, ginger came along the spice route from India in the first century AD. Due to the lucrative spice trade at the time, it hardly made its way beyond the borders of the Roman Empire and logically, with the fall of the Empire, in nearly disappeared from Europe.
But in the 14th century, thanks to Marco Polo’s travels to the Far East, ginger came back into flavour in Europe, to turn into one of the most expensive spices on the market, mainly thanks to its role as an aphrodisiac, as the Italian University of Salerno medical school prescribed that a rule for happy life in old age was to “eat ginger, and you will love and be loved as in your youth.”
The word ginger comes from the Ancient Sanskrit singabera, meaning ‘shaped like a horn’, from the shape of its roots. The ancient Greeks adopted the name of zingiberis, which in Latin turned to gingiber and from there entered the English language around 11th century with the spelling of gingifer. It was in the 14th century, when ginger made its reappearance in Europe, that the modern spelling of the word entered the English vocabulary. Firstly appearing in print in a 1366 Mediaeval manuscript, followed by John Trevisa’s translation of the early encyclopaedia De Proprietatibus Rerum (On the Properties of Things), where in 1398 ginger was defined as: “Gynger …. Zinziber: and is the root of a herb.
The popular Christmas treat, the gingerbread, appeared in the mid 16th century, and its invention is credited to Queen Elizabeth I of England (more on this in one of our next words of the day)
In reference to colouring, the word was firstly used in print in 1785 to refer to fighting chickens: “Red cocks are called gingers”. And only in 1865 it appeared in its meaning of describing a facial hair colour, which happened in Dickens Our Mutual Friend: “Mature young gentleman; with..too much ginger in his whiskers”.
Ginger-ale was recorded by 1822, the term adopted by manufacturers to distinguish their product from ginger beer (1809), which was sometimes fermented.
To day, medical ginger is mainly used for the prevention of the symptoms of travel sickness, as its efficiency for the prevention of nausea, dizziness and vomiting are scientifically proven by many clinical studies.
And, of course, to come to our point – Christmas is not possible without the smell of ginger, be it in warm seasonal beverages, main dishes or desserts.
