Yam (vegetable) - Etymology

Etymology

From Portuguese inhame or Spanish iñame or ñame, which are probably derived from some West African language, such as Fulani, Serer, Wolof, etc., many of which have verbs meaning "to eat", which could have been the source of the plant name that would have been borrowed.

There are over 100 ethnic groups and languages in Nigeria, and each has different language names for Yam, "Isu" is the Yoruba translation.

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