Horseticultural Question

[punkkid]

God that was a bad pun in the subject. Anyway, why do they call it horseradish? What makes it have anything to do with horses?

[Ice_Wolf]

Apparently not. It started out as “coarse radish”, as opposed to “edible radish”.

From this site:

More recent appreciation of horseradish is believed to have originated in Central Europe, the area also linked to the most widely held theory of how horseradish was named. In German, it’s called “meerrettich” (sea radish) because it grows by the sea. Many believe the English mispronounced the German word “meer” and began calling it “mareradish.” Eventually it became known as horseradish. The word “horse” (as applied in “horseradish”) is believed to denote large size and coarseness. “Radish” comes from the Latin radix meaning root.

[punkkid]

Thanx.