No one has guessed this correctly. This book: Mughal India and Central Asia, is another hint as to why I would say something like India’s foreign policy ambitions are naan’s homecoming.
In a way, I’m checking to see if anyone knows the history of the word “naan,” and I’m afraid I’ve given it away. Evil eye beads are at stake here. You can get a special kind of them if you can come up with other words that share this exact same relationship (I can think of two real quick) and why they do.
If you can figure it out, you’ll know why I always tell people that Indian food is a big lie, a big, delicious lie.
This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2973 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan is the Founding Editor and Publisher of Registan.net, which he launched in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with private and government clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural and political factors shape risks and opportunities and how organizations can adjust their strategic and operational plans to account for these variables. Nathan is currently seeking research, analysis, and consulting opportunities. He can be contacted via Twitter or email.
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Of course! Mongols established the Ilkhanate in Persia in the mid-13th century, and later Babur established the Mughal dynasty in India. Moreover, the Turkish kebab is often served with flat bread … coo, perhaps there’s space on the internet for a blog devoted to the history of the world as told through food. Also lamb is practically the main feature of most turkic & Central Asian dishes.
DING DING DING!!!
We have some winners! KimcheeGI has specifically what I was looking for, but because it might not be the exactly correct answer, Chaghatai (great screen name, btw, it’s the one I use for America’s Army) get’s co-winner. I’m going to put up some more links about the Moghuls and the Turco-Mongol-Persian roots of “Indian” dishes after work.
“Non” is Uzbek for “bread,” specifically round bread that is cooked in a tandoor. The style varies from region to region, from light and crispy to the heavy, almost bagel-like, and often highly-decorative, non of Samarkand.
Of course! Mongols established the Ilkhanate in Persia in the mid-13th century, and later Babur established the Mughal dynasty in India. Moreover, the Turkish kebab is often served with flat bread … coo, perhaps there’s space on the internet for a blog devoted to the history of the world as told through food. Also lamb is practically the main feature of most turkic & Central Asian dishes.
Nathan,
From the American Heritage Dictonary:
naan
PRONUNCIATION:nän, nun
VARIANT FORMS: nan
NOUN: A flat, leavened bread of northwest India, made of white flour and baked in a tandoor.
ETYMOLOGY: Hindi nun, bread, from Farsi, ultimately from Old Persian *nagna, naked, bare (probably from being baked uncovered in an oven rather than covered in ash). See nogw- in Appendix I.
Appendix I
Indo-European Roots
ENTRY: nogw-
DEFINITION: Naked. 1. Suffixed forms *nogw-eto-, *nogw-oto-. naked, from Old English nacod, naked, from Germanic *nakweda-, *nakwada-. 2. Suffixed form *nogw-edo-. nude, nudi-; denude, from Latin ndus, naked. 3. Suffixed form *nogw-mo-. gymnasium, gymnast; gymnosophist, gymnosperm, from Greek gumnos, naked (with metathesis due to taboo deformation). 4. Suffixed form *nogw-no-. naan, from Old Persian *nagna-, bare, naked. (Pokorny nog- 769.)
Almost there KimcheeGI. What the hell is naan doing in India? How’d it get there? (Keep in mind that I don’t know the exact answer myself, but there are any number of good candidates).
I’m guessing that naan may have been introduced to India by either a) Persian Zoroastrians fleeing the Arab conquests in the 8th century (and there is still a sizeable Zoroastrian population in Bombay) or b)Persians fleeing the Mongol conquests in the 13th century.
Nathan,
from Tina Hancock’s turpan – kashgar page:
So like My Anthropology professor said, “The Mughals are Mongols”…they’re from the steppes and mountians of Central Asia.