morel (muh-REL) - n., any edible mushroom of the genus Morchella, especially M. esculenta, characterized by a cap with irregular pits and ridges.
Thus:

Thanks, WikiMedia!
Very tasty -- I actually prefer them to chanterelles (we used to gather them in the woods when I was a kid). The exact taxonomy is highly debated, but at the moment there are generally considered to be around 70 species of morels, with many subspecies and varieties. The etymology has similar difficulties -- none of the dictionaries I consulted agreed in full. They do all agree on recent history: we took it from the French name morille around 1650, where it'd been around since at least Old French, but there the trail gets confused. Many speculate there was a Vulgar Latin name *maurīcula, a diminutive form, possibly of Latin maurus, brown -- other speculations include a possible Frankish word *morhila, mushroom, diminutive of *morha, root.
---L.
Thus:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
Very tasty -- I actually prefer them to chanterelles (we used to gather them in the woods when I was a kid). The exact taxonomy is highly debated, but at the moment there are generally considered to be around 70 species of morels, with many subspecies and varieties. The etymology has similar difficulties -- none of the dictionaries I consulted agreed in full. They do all agree on recent history: we took it from the French name morille around 1650, where it'd been around since at least Old French, but there the trail gets confused. Many speculate there was a Vulgar Latin name *maurīcula, a diminutive form, possibly of Latin maurus, brown -- other speculations include a possible Frankish word *morhila, mushroom, diminutive of *morha, root.
---L.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-13 07:37 pm (UTC)And I suppose you're going to claim it's my fault? Go eat! Food is your friend!
no subject
Date: 2022-01-14 03:47 pm (UTC)