[CH] habanero discussion
carlos m navarro (navarroc@unm.edu)
Sat, 12 Dec 1998 20:09:38 -0700 (MST)
I'd like to add my two cents to the habanero vs. haban~ero discussion.
I think there's a misconception that habanero should have an enye (n with
a tilde) because the word jalapen~o has a enye. The "en~o" ending in the
Spanish language refers to the origin of the subject. Hence jalapen~o
literally means "from the city of Jalapa in Veracruz." But the "n~" is
applicable only preceded by the letter e. The word serrano (which means
literally means chile from the sierra) has an n and not an ~n. In the
case of habanero, this means a chile from Havana (Habana in Spanish). But
the n is part of the word Habana. (It could have been called habanen~o--
but I won't get into that).
Carlos
Albuquerque