Jackfruit
anamizu
04 January
65 Comments
The word "jackfruit" comes from Portuguese jaca,
which in turn, is derived from the Malayalam language term, chakka (Malayalam Chakka pazham : ŕ´šŕ´•്ŕ´•ŕ´Ş്ŕ´Şŕ´´ം). When the Portuguese arrived in India atKozhikode (Calicut) on the Malabar Coast (Kerala) in 1498,
the Malayalam name chakka was recorded byHendrik van Rheede (1678–1703) in the Hortus Malabaricus, vol. iii in Latin. Henry Yule translated the book in Jordanus
Catalani's (f. 1321–1330) Mirabilia
descripta: the wonders of the East.
The common English name "jackfruit" was used by the
physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book ColĂłquios dos simples e drogas da
India. Centuries
later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who
worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra,
and Malaysia.