Mommy, where does potato salad come from?

Factual Questions
1

When a mommy potato and a daddy potato love each other very much…

But seriously, where did potato salad originate? My wild-assed guess was that it was Irish (because of the potato content). My co-worker suggested it was French (because the version we’re familiar with in the U.S. has mayonnaise in it).

I hope to avoid the debates about which kind of potato salad is the One True Potato Salad, once and forever, amen and hallelujah, so mote it be. For purposes of this question I’m speaking of the soft-cooked potatoes in a creamy sauce, often with mustard, that is served cold as a side dish at many a barbecue—unless, that is, it can be proven that this dish is the descendant of another, earlier potato dish. (Besides, those anti-mustard heretics are an abomination unto all that is good and pure.)

What’s the straight dope on this traditional food?

2

I don’t think you’ll get a straight answer on this one. While most will say that it’s German in origin, I’ve seen references to a potato salad in Latvia and Syria. The cold version with mayonnaise is most likely an American invention, but that’s opinion without benefit of cites.

3

The German dish known as potato salad is significantly different from the the potato salad with which most Americans are familiar. German potato salad is much more vinagery than American, and uses different seasonings. I don’t think that it contains any egg, as American potato salad does (in the mayonaise). Whether the two dishes have any connection, though, I do not know.