[The coriander story].

The etymology of coriander starts with the Greek koriannon, a combination of koris (a stinking bug) and annon (a fragrant anise). In Latin, it was spelled coriandrum, and by way of Old French it came into English as coriander in the 14th century. A historical account of Coriandrum sativum mainly Japan is presented. It had been known as a foodstuff in the 10th century, but it disappeared in the next century perhaps because of its disagreeable smell. It was reintroduced by the Portuguese in the 18th century as ko-en-do-ro in Japanese, from the Portuguses word coentro. The smell of the fresh leaves should be a product of a mixture of essential oils including d-linalol or coriandrol.

[Etymology of ginger].

The English term ginger originates from Sanskrit sringavera (sringam=horn+vera=body), which was transformed to Latin gingiber and to Old French gingibre, which resulted in ginger in English. The German Ingwer was derived from the same origin, but lost its front sound. The Chinese and Japanese terms for ginger are briefly discussed. And the etymology of the related words gingerbread and ginger ale are also mentioned.

[Forgotten episodes of the birth of cortisone].

During World War II, a rumor reached the United States and the United Kingdom that the Germans were successfully using an adrenal hormone product to protect Luftwaffe pilots from the adverse effects of high altitudes. The product was said to be obtained from adrenal glands collected in a huge amount in Argentina and transported by U-boats to Germany. The U. S. and the U. K. exerted their war efforts by setting up urgent research projects to produce similar products. The war ended in 1945, however, before the goal was achieved. The German rumor turned out to be groundless. Cortisone acquired fame in 1949 as "a miracle drug" for the relief of rheumatic pain. Its therapeutic discovery was an outcome of the untenable assumption that rheumatoid arthritis patients must have suffered from adrenal insufficiency and hormone deficiency. The war efforts have led to successful syntheses of cortisone after the war, and its industrial production has reduced its cost drastically from $200.00 per gram in 1949 to $10.00 in 1951. To overcome the cumbersome synthetic routes for cortisone, natural product sources were sought as possible starting materials, but without much success. A microbiological transformation of steroidal compounds was developed in 1952 to introduce an oxygen function into the molecular position 11 by a microorganism found at a window of a laboratory. The fermentation process required progesterone which found its timely supply in Mexico. The cost of progesterone went down from $2.00 per gram to $0.15 and that of cortisone further from $10.00 to $3.50 in 1955. An ample supply of cortisone at an affordable price was admirably achieved by the combination of progesterone derived from diosgenin of the Mexican yam and a microbiological oxidation process developed by a chance discovery of suitable organisms. The former is attributed to R. E. Marker and the latter to D. H. Peterson.

[The nutmeg story].

A brief historical account of the spice islands, the Moluccas, in the Age of Discovery with particular reference to the Dutch monopoly of nutmeg is presented. The etymologies of such English terms as nutmeg (nut+musk), mace, myristica, date, and phoenix, as well as Chinese róu dóu kóu (Engl. nutmeg) and Japanese natsume (Engl. jujube) and natsume-yashi (Engl. date palm) are given.

[Etymology of clove].

A very brief history of clove in Europe and Indonesia with particular reference to Dutch monopoly of clove in the spice islands, the Moluccas, is presented. The etymology of clove originates from the Greek word karuóphullon (káruon=nut+phúllon=leaf) and the Latin word caryophyllon, which were transformed to clou de girofle in Old French and clow of gilofer in Middle English. Further modification resulted in a separation into clove and gilly-flower.

[Rhubarb in the East and the West].

An etymological account of edible rhubards (stalks) and medicinal rhubarbs (rhizomes) is presented. Rheum rhaponticum (edible) was originally brought to the West from the barbarian Volga (old name Rha) district and from the Black Sea (old name Pontus) area. Rha comes from the Indo-European protolanguage *sreu, which means river or to flow. Rha barbarum was transformed to rhubarb in English and to Rhabarber in German. Medicinal rhubarbs are R. palmatum (the shape of its leaves are palm shaped), R. tanguticum from Tangut, China, and R. officinale and R. coreanum (both of which need no explanation). The relationship of Rheum with Rumex is also mentioned.

A distinct break between butane and pentane.

In organic chemistry, hydrocarbon compounds with one to four carbon atoms are given individual names such as methane, ethane, propane and butane, whereas those with five carbons or more are named by the serial Greco-Roman numerals like pentane pente, 5), hexane hex, 6 (and heptane hepta, 7). The author points out a distinct conceptual break between the numbers four and five. There have been arguments that primitive cultures had numerals only up to four, and a quantum mental leap was required to cross the boundary after four. Linguistic discussions are made to substantiate the break by scrutinizing the spellings of the numbers "five", "eight" and "nine" of the proto-Indo-European language. In ancient Roman times, 1 (children's ages were counted by winters up to four and by years from five on, 2 (the first four calender months had real names and after four they were called by serial numbers, (3) children up to the fourth were given individual names but from the fifth child on they were named by serial number words, and (4) the words of the number of times had a sharp break between four and five. In various Indo-European languages long ago, the numbers one through four were inflected adjectives, while the numbers beyond four were non-inflectable. All the above observations indicate an existence of a conceptual break after the number four. The author concludes that the notion of such break latently survived in peoples' minds for a long time and came to light when naming of the hydrocarbons was attempted in the 19th century.

[Dispensing].

A historical account is presented of the usage of the term "(tiaoji in Chinese or chozai in Japanese)" to denote the deed of dispensing a medicine. The author concludes that its usage should most probably be of Japanese origin though the word has been in use in China for a long time, however, for meanings unrelated to medicine. China may have imported this particular meaning from Japan in more recent times.

[Shén Nóng, why not Nóng Shén?].

In the Chinese language, the word order of 'modifier+modifiee' indicates a Northern origin whereas the order of 'modifiee+modifier' reflects Southern dialects. Shén Nóng, a Chinese mythical diety, is known as an originator of herbal medicines as well as of agriculture, and his name ('modifiee+modifier') clearly suggests a Southern type. This linguistic feature can be related to depiction of Shén Nóng's life which implies a Southern origin. Shén Nóng must have already been so named in the era of Shang dynasty which preceeded the Xia culture of Southern origin. The myth of Shén Nóng may be ethnically of the people of the South.