茅汁
kê-tsiap
English from Hokkien Chinese
“A Chinese fish sauce became America's tomato condiment—with no fish and no China in sight.”
In the Hokkien Chinese dialect of southeast China, kê-tsiap (茅汁 or similar) meant "fermented fish sauce"—a pungent brine of pickled fish and spices. Chinese traders spread it throughout Southeast Asia.
British traders in Malaya and Indonesia encountered the sauce in the 1700s and brought it home as "ketchup" or "catchup." Early English ketchups were made from mushrooms, walnuts, anchovies—anything fermented and savory. No tomatoes.
Tomato ketchup appeared in America in the early 1800s. Henry Heinz began selling his version in 1876. By the 20th century, ketchup meant exclusively tomato ketchup—and the fish sauce origin was entirely forgotten.
The word traveled from Chinese fish sauce to English mushroom sauce to American tomato sauce. At each stop, the recipe changed completely. Only the name survived.
Related Words
Today
Ketchup is now America's most popular condiment—consumed at a rate of three bottles per person per year. The word is so naturalized that its Chinese origin surprises everyone.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, kecap (from the same root) means soy sauce. The same word, on opposite sides of the Pacific, means completely different condiments.
The word proves that language can preserve a connection long after the thing itself has been utterly transformed.
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