OLITORY/ˈɒlɪtəri/
If it would be overly grand to refer to our vegetable patches as kitchen gardens, how much more so it would be to use olitory to describe them or their products.
It is from Latin (h)olitorius, belonging to a kitchen gardener or vegetables, which in turn is from olus for a potherb or vegetable. The latter is the source of oleraceous, pertaining to a potherb or other vegetable used in cookery, and to olericulture for the process of growing them. All these are pretty much defunct, though words from the same Latin root occasionally turn up as part of the botanical names of useful plants, the best known being Brassica oleracea, whose varieties include cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.
A rare foray into the public arena appeared in The Art of Living in Australia by Philip E Muskett, published in 1894. In regretting the paucity of market gardens in that country, he noted that “there is not much reason for congratulation from an olitory point of view” and says “If the potato and the cabbage were taken away, Australia would be almost bereft of vegetables.”
Page created 6 Aug. 2005
