Thursday, February 3, 2011

French Word of The Day

Tournesol.


Sunflower. I was baking and the recipe called for Sunflower oil. But if you break down the word to "Tourne" and "Sol" it means "turned soil". I don't know why, but the fact that we named it after the Sun and they named it after the Earth is interesting to me,

2 comments:

  1. are you sure it doesn't mean "turns to the sun"? In Spanish sunflower is Girasol, becasue the flower turns (think latin root of gyrate) towards the sun.

    -Missy G

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  2. I'm sure that is what it means, but the word Sol in french means earth or soil.

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