Yam¹

Forms: [6 nname, inany, ignane, iniamo, 6–7 inamia, 6–8 igname, 7 ignaman, ighname, iniamu, 7–8 inhame], 7 yeam(e, yawm, yaum, jamoo, 7–8 yame, 8 jamme, jamb, guam (?), yamm, 7– yam. Pg. inhame (Clusius, 1567) or Sp. igname (Scaliger, 1557), iñame, † name, whence F. igname (Thevet, 1575); the ultimate origin is uncertain.

  The foll. quots. contain unanglicized forms:—

1588.  T. Hickock, trans. C. Frederick’s Voy., 18. A fruite called Inany [It. Ignami]: which fruite is lyke to our Turnops, but is verye sweete and good to eate.

1588.  Parke, trans. Mendoza’s Hist. China, Comm. xi. 342. These people [sc. of the Philippine Islands] do more esteeme yron than siluer or golde, and gaue for it fruites nnames [Sp. ñames] patatas, fish.

1588.  in Hakluyt, Voy. (1599), II. II. 129. Their bread is a kind of roots, they call it Inamia, and when it is well sodden I would leaue our bread to eat of it.

1598.  W. Phillip, trans. Linschoten’s Voy., I. lv. 99/2. Iniamos were this yeare brought hether out of Guinea, as bigge as a mans legge.

1600.  J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, Descr. Places, 52. They haue good sustenance also by meanes of a root, called there Igname, but in the west Indies Batata.

1640.  Parkinson, Theat. Bot., XV. xxix. 1383. This manner of planting this Inhame savoureth something of that of the Manihot or Iucca, wherof the Cassavi is made.

1665.  Golden Coast, 65. The Battatas are … in form almost like Iniamus.

1703.  Petiver, in Phil Trans., XXIII. 1460. A sort of Inhame vulgo Yam or Potatoe.

1759.  trans. Adanson’s Voy. Senegal, 165. The roots of manioc, igname [Fr.], and batatee multiply greatly in open places.]

  1.  The starchy tuberous root of various species of Dioscorea, largely cultivated for food in tropical and subtropical countries, where it takes the place of the potato; also, any plant of the genus Dioscorea (or, by extension, of the N. O. Dioscoreaceæ), comprising twining herbs or shrubs with spikes of small inconspicuous flowers.

  With defining words, applied to various species of Dioscorea, and to plants of other genera in some way resembling these. Chinese or Japanese Yam, D. Batatas. Coco or Koko Yam = COCCO, KOKO. Common Yam, D. sativa. Granada or Guinea Yam, D. bulbifera. Indian Yam, D. trifida. Long Yam, of Australia, D. transversa. Native Yam, a name for Australian species of Ipomæa (N.O. Convolvulaceæ) with edible tubers. Red, White, Negro Country, or Winged Yam, Dioscorea alata. Round Yam, (a) a species of yam with a round tuber; (b) the Burdekin Vine of Australia, Vitis (Cissus) opaca, with an edible tuberous root. Wild Yam, Dioscorea villosa of N. America, the root of which is used medicinally, also called colic-root; also applied to two W. Indian climbing shrubs, Rajania pleioneura (N.O. Dioscoreaceæ) and Cissus sicyoides (N.O. Vitaceæ); also to an Australian parasitic orchid (Gastrodia sesamoides) with edible roots, called native potato in Tasmania.

1657.  R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 94. Planting provisions of Corn, Yeams, Bonavista, Cassavie.

1659.  in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1919), July, 285. To procure … planton rootes, cassada-sticks, large jamooes, potatoes and bonavist [in Cape Verde Is.].

1661.  Hickeringill, Jamaica, 16. Plentifull produce of Sugar-Canes, Tobacco, Cotten, Maiz…, Potato’s, Yames [printed Yarnes].

1697.  Dampier, Voy. (1699), 12. Yams, Potatoes and Plantains served us for Bread.

1699.  Wafer, Voy., 101. Yams, of which they have two sorts, a White and a Purple.

1705.  trans. Bosman’s Guinea, i. 7. Jammes [orig. F. jammes]. Ibid., ii. 16. Jambs, Potatoes, and other Fruits.

1720.  De Foe, Capt. Singleton, xiv. (1840), 236. Guams, potatoes.

1729.  Dampier’s Voy., III. 460. Round Yam. From the Root which is white raw, but when boyl’d red…. White Yam. Its Root being of that Colour, the Leaves single and cordated.

1756.  P. Browne, Jamaica (1789), 360. The Wild Yam. This plant grows wild in the inland woods of Jamaica. Ibid., 359. The Negro Yam.

1830.  Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 278. The yams, so important a food in all tropical countries, because of their large, fleshy, mucilaginous, sweetish tubers.

1858.  Hogg, Veg. Kingd., 718. The Chinese Yam (D. Batatas), recently introduced to this country as a substitute for the potatoe.

1864.  Grisebach, Flora W. Ind. Isl., 789. Yams, Indian, Dioscorea trifida.… Yams, white, Dioscorea alata. Yams, wild, Cissus sicyoides and Rajania pleioneura.

1866.  Treas. Bot., 411. Yams vary greatly in size and colour…; many attain a length of two or three feet, and weigh from 30 to 40 lbs.; some are white, others purplish throughout, while some have a purple skin with whitish flesh, and others are pink, or even black.

1887.  Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 433. White Bockra or Winged Yam (Dioscorea alata, L.).—Square-stemmed climbing plant. The roots of this species afford a much more delicate … food than those of D. sativa.

1889.  Maiden, Useful Native Pl. Austral., 67. Vitis opaca,… Round Yam.

  2.  Applied to † (a) the mangrove, of which some species have an edible fruit; (b) varieties of the common potato (Solanum tuberosum), cultivated in Scotland; (c) a variety of the sweet potato (Batatas edulis), largely eaten by negroes in America.

1753.  Chambers’ Cycl. Suppl., App., Yams,… a name sometimes used for the rhizophora of Linnæus.

c. 1775.  T. L., Yankee Doodle (song), ii., in N. & Q., 1st Ser. V. 87. Farewell all de yams, and farewell de salt fish.

1805.  Forsyth, Beauties Scot., II. 84. To give them [sc. horses] … a considerable quantity daily of potatoes, especially of the coarse sort, called yams.

1815.  Pennecuik’s Wks., 78, note. There is a demand for the large coarse varieties of potatoe, improperly called yams.

1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 30. The varieties raised exclusively for cattle are the common yam, red yam, and ox-noble.

1862.  Whittier, At Port Royal, Song of the Negro Boatmen, 45.

1892.  Kilmarnock Standard, 30 July, 5/2. The Negro likes his yam.

  3.  attrib. and Comb., as yam-hill, -root; yam-bean, either of two species of leguminous plants, Pachyrrhizus (Dolichos) tuberosus and angulatus, cultivated in the tropics for their pods and tubers, both of which are edible; yam potato = sense 2 (b); yam-stick, a long stick sharpened at the end, used by Australian natives for digging and as a weapon; yam-stock, a nickname for an inhabitant of St. Helena; yam-vine, (a) a species of yam (Dioscorea bulbifera); (b) the ‘vine’ or climbing stem of the yam-plant.

1864.  Grisebach, Flora W. Ind. Isl., 789. *Yam-bean, Dolichos tuberosus.

1887.  Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 321. Yam Bean (Pachyrhizus angulatus), its tubers are like turnips.

1867.  Emerson, Lett. & Soc. Aims, Progr. Cult., Wks. (Bohn), III. 228. Even the races that we still call savage … vindicate their faculty by the skill with which they make their *yam-cloths.

1864–5.  Wood, Homes without H., iii. 85. A *Yam-hill—i. e. a bank of mould prepared for the purpose of growing yams.

1801.  Farmer’s Mag., Aug., 324. The *yam potatoe.

1829.  Loudon, Encycl. Plants (1836), § 2085. The juice of *yam-roots fresh is acrid.

1861.  Bp. Mackenzie, in H. Goodwin, Mem. (1864), 349. Huge yam-roots, some weighing fifty pounds.

1863.  M. K. Beveridge, Gatherings, 27. One leg’s thin as Lierah’s *yam-stick.

1833.  T. Hook, Parson’s Dau., I. ii. The blonds of the Baltic, the brunettes of the Mediterranean,… and the fair *yam-stocks of St. Helena.

1792.  Mar. Riddell, Voy. Madeira, 89. The dioscorea bulbifera, or *yam vine.

1894.  B. Thomson, S. Sea Yarns, 186. I should soon … see the green yam-vines.