445
submitted 3 months ago by Don_Dickle@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yeah, it was the sap of marsh mallow that the Egyptians used.

Saying that doesn't mean that they think Egyptians used the English word "marshmallow".

Edit but it likely was something like their words for those things, which then got translated again and again and again.

The original connotation didn't reach us. My native language calls the modern sweet "foam candy" (vaahtokarkki)

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

My country calls it "mice bacon" (Mäusespeck). 😅

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

That doesn't make sense in any way.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Apparently it's based on the fact that the colour reminded people of the bacon used in mouse traps. Although it's a bit unclear, it could also play into things that the first company to sell marshmallows en masse in Germany used mice-shaped ones.

[-] kofe@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

Ooo what do you call cotton candy?

[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

Hattara.

It doesn't directly translate into anything. Sort of connotates the flimsiness of the product, but much else.

Hattara sounds like it could be an iron age god tbh.

Oh, oh. I wasn't too wrong. Hattara is a Finnish mythical being. https://fi.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattara_(mytologia)

In French, the word "hattara" means father's beard, and in Greek, the word "hattara" means old women's hair.

I love etymology but Finnish ones aren't as easy to figure out as English / other PIE languages

[-] kofe@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Thank you for the reply! I've never been big on etymology but I might need to get more into it, that's so neat.

this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024
445 points (96.8% liked)

Today I Learned

18061 readers
1112 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS