Question for U.K. readers - Corn

[cloudboy]

For someone from the U.K. - I was reading something about ancient mills and grindstones and stuff, and it kept talking about grinding corn. In fact several places eem to mention this. But corn would not have made it over to europe until the 17th century.

Someone told me that you don't use the word corn anyway, you use maize. Is corn something different over there?

 

[speck76]

Corn was brought to Europe by Columbus.

http://www.agron.iastate.edu/courses/agron212/Readings/Corn_history.htm

''The word "corn" has many different meanings depending on what country you are in. Corn in the United States is also called maize or Indian corn. In some countries, corn means the leading crop grown in a certain district. Corn in England means wheat; in Scotland and Ireland, it refers to oats. Corn mentioned in the Bible probably refers to wheat or barley.''

Tomatos also were found in the Americas and brought to Europe.

 

[cloudboy]

So then, what I was reaidng was translated into english, and they translated whatever the word they had for wheat into corn? Interesting.

It is wierd how there are these subtle differences between american words and english words.