MEDITATION ON A SWEET POTATO

The scientific Latin name
for the kūmara, following the pattern
as laid down by Linaeus
is Ipomoea batatas; “batatas” is
relatively straightforward
Neo-Latin for “potato” and “Ipomoea”
is based on the Greek:
“ips”, meaning “worm”, and “homoios”,
meaning “same”, from the resemblance
of the sweet potatoe
to a slow fat grub,
but in te reo Māori,
“ipo moea” in correct syntax
as “moea i po” is to dream in the night
like a kūmara buried in its mound of earth.

Coincidentally,
Kumara is a name of the Hindu war god
Murugan, and the four child sages
Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana

and Sanatkumara, born of Brahma’s mind.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE DEATH OF MARION DU FRESNE AT THE BAY OF ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, 12 JUNE 1772, BY CHARLES MÉRYON (1846-1848)

LULLABY

THE NIGHT GARDEN