Ginger and Turmeric- Traditional Family Medicine (Health Series)

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Ginger and turmeric constitute two of the most important spice and condiment materials for which India has been justly famous since very ancient times. Some of the other vegetable products of this type are the cloves, the cardamoms, the nutmeg and the dalchini or the cinnamon bark. It is in search for these materials and more so to capture the world trade in them during those times that the European colonisation of India and the Far East did come about, from the early nineteenth century onwards.

All authorities agree that ginger marketing commenced with India as its source. Its very name is Sanskritic. It is very interesting and educative to study as to how the reputed Chamber's Dictionary of English traces the origin of this term 'Ginger'.This is traced at many distinct stages such as gingivere of Mid English, gengibre of old French, gingiber of Latin, Zingiber of German and Zingiberis which is perhaps, Sanskritic shringavera. A look into the Sanskrit terms of shringa vera to ginger is more interesting. Even for Sanskrit, this term is rather unusal. This is because it is made up of two distinct words shringa, which is horn, a Sanskrit word and vera, which has no meaning in Sanskrit, but means a root in Dravidian languages. The term is what grammarians call as an arisamasa viz. a combination of words of two different languages. Sanskrit and Dravidian. The term shringa vera however has a very apt application; it means "horn-root", clearly alluding to the horn like root or rather, the underground portion of the plant, the rhizome, which is what constitutes the ginger. One can easily surmise that plant was a discovery of such early times as when the Aryan and Dravidian races first came together in India. From then onwards this little bit of history is ever locked up in the very name of this plant viz. ginger and its modifications in the several tongues of man.