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ristra (REE-stra) - n., a string on which chilies, garlic, or onions are threaded or tied for drying and storage.
And hung for decoration in, for example, New Mexico and southern Arizona, but also in Mexico and around the Mediterranean (and probably elsewhere). Chilis get musty in enclosed spaces. We have one in our kitchen, halfway consumed, and a purely decorative one in the corner of the living room near the fireplace. We got the word, though not until around 1900, from Spanish, naturally, where it means both string and a ristra, from Old Spanish form riestra, variant of riesta/rieste, from Latin restis, where it also means both string and ristra -- the practice, it is an old one.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
---L.
And hung for decoration in, for example, New Mexico and southern Arizona, but also in Mexico and around the Mediterranean (and probably elsewhere). Chilis get musty in enclosed spaces. We have one in our kitchen, halfway consumed, and a purely decorative one in the corner of the living room near the fireplace. We got the word, though not until around 1900, from Spanish, naturally, where it means both string and a ristra, from Old Spanish form riestra, variant of riesta/rieste, from Latin restis, where it also means both string and ristra -- the practice, it is an old one.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
---L.
