"Thus, under the word FRUIT IN MY DICTIONARY, you will see avocado (locally called ‘paya’), Ashanti plum (= ‘atoaa’ or ‘Akosua kokoo’), African velvet tamarind (= ‘yoyi’), African star apple (= ‘alasa), Afri ... read full comment
"Thus, under the word FRUIT IN MY DICTIONARY, you will see avocado (locally called ‘paya’), Ashanti plum (= ‘atoaa’ or ‘Akosua kokoo’), African velvet tamarind (= ‘yoyi’), African star apple (= ‘alasa), African blackplum (= ‘efor’ by the Ewes, ‘sho’ by the Ga people, ‘abisain’ by the Akans and ‘haaraa’ by the Waala people of Upper West Region) and many more." It is good that you make mention of lccal names of the fruits but you should as well give their botanical names since they do exist.
IDRIS PACAS 8 years ago
Every plant and animal entered into my to-be dictionary has its scientific name mentioned therein.
In some cases, I even explained the derivation of such names as I did here for the few mentioned up there.
The local nam ... read full comment
Every plant and animal entered into my to-be dictionary has its scientific name mentioned therein.
In some cases, I even explained the derivation of such names as I did here for the few mentioned up there.
The local names are omitted from the book but are to be placed in an appendix.
Thanks for reading.
NOWATI 8 years ago
Names of fruits, meaningful, proper and scientific names. For what? When you know the correct names or wrong names what happens then? We are in information era, so some things are primitive and waste of time. The reason why G ... read full comment
Names of fruits, meaningful, proper and scientific names. For what? When you know the correct names or wrong names what happens then? We are in information era, so some things are primitive and waste of time. The reason why Ghanaians we can't produce scientists I mean useful scientists to manufacture anything but everything must be imported from whites is these names and also definitions. Having schooled in Ghana, we waste much of our time on these names of fruits, human parts, animal parts, plant parts and definitions whereas the whites in their school lessons take these fruits and examine the uses, how can they be ingredients of a medicine, is it possible to obtain GM of two or more fruits being combined, is it any harmful effect if consumed by a person. These are what we need and want our scientists to learn and not just names and mere definitiins which form primitive school lessons. The world is growing leaving us behind.
IDRIS PACAS 8 years ago
Most whites do not go to school to learn names because the language they speak at home is one used to teach at school.
In Ghana, this situation is the reverse. Pupils must first learn English language and know the names of ... read full comment
Most whites do not go to school to learn names because the language they speak at home is one used to teach at school.
In Ghana, this situation is the reverse. Pupils must first learn English language and know the names of crops and animals before describing them.
Now that you know that your own 'hweenteaa' is Ethiopian pepper, you may begin your online search for more info on it and thereafter conduct any other research work on it.
How do you communicate your findings on a crop, animal or human part when you don't know the correct name or description of organism or part being studied?
What you feel is lacking in this article is what you should supply for readers. All that will amount to providing info to public.
Being in information age never means everybody has access to info. Please, contribute your quota.
NOWATI 8 years ago
The competent white scientists don't know the origins of names and even the scientific names for some fruits. They call such names trivialities. They simply use the simple names as we use here without any difference. For exam ... read full comment
The competent white scientists don't know the origins of names and even the scientific names for some fruits. They call such names trivialities. They simply use the simple names as we use here without any difference. For example, a white scientist takes a mango, the only name (s)he knows is mango, he is not bothered by the origin of name 'mango' and he is not bothered by any scientific name of mango. However, he examines such a mango, how many ways a mango can be used? If fresh juice from a mango is mixed with an orange juice, what will be obtained, will it drinkable or poisonous? Lastly, he would take the seed of the mango without bothering by the scientific name of the seed, and ask himself, if a portion of the mango seed is cut and insert with an orange seed and sow , what will be produced? This and others are what they are doing but not talking about the Greek or latin or Italian or English or scientific names. They are immaterial in modern sciences.
Jato Kaleo 8 years ago
Nowati, these names are important. The white scientists you are talking of may also have taken courses that teach them the correct names of plants. And when they write articles for academic journals to publish their scientifi ... read full comment
Nowati, these names are important. The white scientists you are talking of may also have taken courses that teach them the correct names of plants. And when they write articles for academic journals to publish their scientific findings, they have to use the correct names.
And there are scientists who specialize in the classification and naming of things. People can spend years in studying to become taxonomists. Specialists in this branch of science are very scarce in Africa. Often we have to bring in foreign experts to do this work for us.
So don't say the names of things are immaterial in modern sciences. They are very important. People are still discovering things that they give their own names to. But names cannot be given "anyhowly".
IDRIS PACAS 8 years ago
Which people do you call whites? The GREEKS and ITALIANS are whites. The word 'mango' itself is a white man's word.
Nearly all scientific names given to plants and animals were assigned by whites. So, redefine who a white ... read full comment
Which people do you call whites? The GREEKS and ITALIANS are whites. The word 'mango' itself is a white man's word.
Nearly all scientific names given to plants and animals were assigned by whites. So, redefine who a white is to you. For example, if you google for mango, you will see this:
Mangifera indica L.
The L. stands for Linnaeus from Sweden who named the plant as such. Or by your definition, Swedish are non-whites?
Note that Ghanaweb is not the platform for publishing scientific findings: scientific findings are published in peer-reviewed journals.
So what you read in the article above is not any scientific finding but just a piece of info displayed on our own web to increase its accessibility.
Instead of expending energy needlessly, why don't just publish any of your good works here.
Anyway,as pointed to you by Jato, some scientists specialize as taxonomists. And to publish you findings on the nutritional benefit of any crop, you MUST cite a taxonomist who identified the plant you worked on.
The above tells you how interconnected science.
Thanks for reading and dropping a comment.
Jato Kaleo 8 years ago
Thanx for the lesson, Idris. It was nice. I remember that hentweaa is an essential part of that concoction one makes with several herbs and pour ogogoro over to soak some of it before consumption. Can you confirm it? Does it ... read full comment
Thanx for the lesson, Idris. It was nice. I remember that hentweaa is an essential part of that concoction one makes with several herbs and pour ogogoro over to soak some of it before consumption. Can you confirm it? Does it also go into "alafia" bitters?
Hwenteaa really has many medicinal uses and it's common all over Ghana. In the days when the Nigerians lived among us, it was one of the things you could easily buy from the Yoruba woman who sold a huge assortment of things including many odds and ends.
But it seems I didn't see your description of the green form of the plant. We only see the dried form. But your picture includes the green plant also but not the green seed.
I remember in my area, we didn't grow them but plucked them as they grew wild in the forest. Are they now cultivated in Ghana and in which parts?
It was nice that you dealt with the general family of peppers. But how does hwenteaa relate to what we normally call "alligator pepper"? There is also another kind of "spice" that grows on strings in the forest (in my area, anyway). I've forgotten the name but it does similar things as hwenteaa. You know what I mean?
Where does that pepper commonly known as feferoni or perperoni come in? In European shops, these come mainly from Turkey and Greece. They are essential additions to Turkish khebab and some people also add them to tortilla rolls. In Accra last year, I asked for perperoni in Shoprite and they didn't have it. That supermarket in Marina Mall had it but the attendant told me they had run out of stock.
Keep up the good work, Idris. Some of us think you're doing a great work. And I hope you get a publisher for your dictionary. What is the old Ghana Publishing Corporation doing?
Tekonline.org 8 years ago
A useful article, Idris.
The plant is quite useful as an antimalarial agent, from research in our own backyard:
The Curative and Prophylactic Effects of Xylopic Acid on Plasmodium berghei Infection in Mice.
Boampong JN1, Ameyaw EO, Aboagye B, Asare K, Kyei S, Donfack JH, Woode E.
Author information
1Department of Biomedical and Forensic Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Abstract
Efforts have been intensified to search for more effective antimalarial agents because of the observed failure of some artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) treatments of malaria in Ghana. Xylopic acid, a pure compound isolated from the fruits of the Xylopia aethiopica, was investigated to establish its attributable prophylactic, curative antimalarial, and antipyretic properties. The antimalarial properties were determined by employing xylopic acid (10-100?mg/kg) in ICR mice infected with Plasmodium berghei. Xylopic acid exerted significant (P < 0.05) effects on P. berghei infection similar to artemether/lumefantrine, the standard drug. Furthermore, it significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced fever in Sprague-Dawley rats similar to prednisolone. Xylopic acid therefore possesses prophylactic and curative antimalarial as well as antipyretic properties which makes it an ideal antimalarial agent.
PRINCEWILLY@YMAIL.COM 8 years ago
--ETHOPIAN PEPPER IS KNOWN AS CLOVES
--ETHOPIAN PEPPER IS KNOWN AS CLOVES
STRONGMAN 8 years ago
The two are slightly different. Kindly check them again.
The two are slightly different. Kindly check them again.
STRONGMAN 8 years ago
Oh! I have searched for the name of this thing that is used added to the 'hot soup' of nursing mothers in my village. They say it heals the wounds fast.
Thank you PACAS
Oh! I have searched for the name of this thing that is used added to the 'hot soup' of nursing mothers in my village. They say it heals the wounds fast.
Thank you PACAS
Zapatista 8 years ago
That is a good piece. Let's know on this platform when the dic is done
That is a good piece. Let's know on this platform when the dic is done
FIAVI..THE EWE PRINCE 8 years ago
"The Ewes call it ETSYO, not ETSO"
"The Ewes call it ETSYO, not ETSO"
IDRIS PACAS 8 years ago
I'm not an Ewe man. A colleague teacher gave me the name and the spelling.
However, I believe that my suggested spelling is enough to let Ewes appreciate and/or link 'etso' or 'etsyo' to Ethiopian pepper.
Thanks for re ... read full comment
I'm not an Ewe man. A colleague teacher gave me the name and the spelling.
However, I believe that my suggested spelling is enough to let Ewes appreciate and/or link 'etso' or 'etsyo' to Ethiopian pepper.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Blaque Marque 8 years ago
IDRIS PACAS,thank you, thank you, thank you or this.
I have searched for this and never come close to finding the English name for this spice cos I brought some to Ireland and gave my friends, they loved it so much they as ... read full comment
IDRIS PACAS,thank you, thank you, thank you or this.
I have searched for this and never come close to finding the English name for this spice cos I brought some to Ireland and gave my friends, they loved it so much they asked me the name and when I couldn't tell them, they decided to call it THE MAGIC SPICE.
Prekese Health and Might 7 years ago
Is it good for BP?
An interesting article. Do you have more on many of the Ghanaian spices? Please give us more. Do not worry about the guy who is pulling your legs with non-academic arguments about Obroni this and Obroni ... read full comment
Is it good for BP?
An interesting article. Do you have more on many of the Ghanaian spices? Please give us more. Do not worry about the guy who is pulling your legs with non-academic arguments about Obroni this and Obroni that. With such Obroni glorification mentality, how can such people make progress?
cs 8 years ago
Good one there bro. When is the book out? We need more
Good one there bro. When is the book out? We need more
"Thus, under the word FRUIT IN MY DICTIONARY, you will see avocado (locally called ‘paya’), Ashanti plum (= ‘atoaa’ or ‘Akosua kokoo’), African velvet tamarind (= ‘yoyi’), African star apple (= ‘alasa), Afri ...
read full comment
Every plant and animal entered into my to-be dictionary has its scientific name mentioned therein.
In some cases, I even explained the derivation of such names as I did here for the few mentioned up there.
The local nam ...
read full comment
Names of fruits, meaningful, proper and scientific names. For what? When you know the correct names or wrong names what happens then? We are in information era, so some things are primitive and waste of time. The reason why G ...
read full comment
Most whites do not go to school to learn names because the language they speak at home is one used to teach at school.
In Ghana, this situation is the reverse. Pupils must first learn English language and know the names of ...
read full comment
The competent white scientists don't know the origins of names and even the scientific names for some fruits. They call such names trivialities. They simply use the simple names as we use here without any difference. For exam ...
read full comment
Nowati, these names are important. The white scientists you are talking of may also have taken courses that teach them the correct names of plants. And when they write articles for academic journals to publish their scientifi ...
read full comment
Which people do you call whites? The GREEKS and ITALIANS are whites. The word 'mango' itself is a white man's word.
Nearly all scientific names given to plants and animals were assigned by whites. So, redefine who a white ...
read full comment
Thanx for the lesson, Idris. It was nice. I remember that hentweaa is an essential part of that concoction one makes with several herbs and pour ogogoro over to soak some of it before consumption. Can you confirm it? Does it ...
read full comment
A useful article, Idris.
The plant is quite useful as an antimalarial agent, from research in our own backyard:
Journal of Parasitology Research. 2013;2013:356107. doi: 10.1155/2013/356107. Epub 2013 Jul 18.
The Cura ...
read full comment
--ETHOPIAN PEPPER IS KNOWN AS CLOVES
The two are slightly different. Kindly check them again.
Oh! I have searched for the name of this thing that is used added to the 'hot soup' of nursing mothers in my village. They say it heals the wounds fast.
Thank you PACAS
That is a good piece. Let's know on this platform when the dic is done
"The Ewes call it ETSYO, not ETSO"
I'm not an Ewe man. A colleague teacher gave me the name and the spelling.
However, I believe that my suggested spelling is enough to let Ewes appreciate and/or link 'etso' or 'etsyo' to Ethiopian pepper.
Thanks for re ...
read full comment
IDRIS PACAS,thank you, thank you, thank you or this.
I have searched for this and never come close to finding the English name for this spice cos I brought some to Ireland and gave my friends, they loved it so much they as ...
read full comment
Is it good for BP?
An interesting article. Do you have more on many of the Ghanaian spices? Please give us more. Do not worry about the guy who is pulling your legs with non-academic arguments about Obroni this and Obroni ...
read full comment
Good one there bro. When is the book out? We need more