Hominy, the elusive intermediate step between corn and grits. On supermarket shelves everywhere (here in the south, anyway), but I’ve been seen it actually prepared not more than half a dozen times in my life.
But that’s not the question. Having nothing better to do than wonder about where the word “hominy” came from, I looked at my trusty M-W 1980 edition, which indicated that it “probably” was related to a Natick word “minne” meaning “grain.”
OK, so then I turned to my OED for a little further info, only to find “The actual origin remains unsettled,” then gives a source that basically concurs with what M-W said.
However. . .
At the end of the speculation it then says: "But see a different suggestion in Trans. American Philol. Assoc. 1872 [sic].
I looked once, twice, even thrice in my bookshelves and boxes searching for this arcane tome–with no luck.
Has anyone happened to read this classic with further info on the origin of this word? You’d think from the way OED so casually mentioned it it would be right beside a copy of all Shakespeare’s works.