IYOM2023 in Spanish: ¿Los mijos?

3rd in series on translation & the International Year of Millets The Spanish version of the name of the planned 2023 International Year of Millets (IYOM) in the UN General Assembly resolution uses the singular: Año Internacional del Mijo instead of Año Internacional de los Mijos. The Spanish version of the 2019 FAO planning document mentioned in the …

IYOM2023 in French: Mils et/ou millets?

2nd in series on translation & the International Year of Millets The French version of the name of the planned 2023 International Year of Millets (IYOM) in the UN General Assembly resolution is Année internationale du mil. Interestingly, a 2019 FAO planning document referred to it as Année internationale des millets,1 and this name also appears …

Translation problems ahead of the International Year of Millets (IYOM2023)?

Diversity of millets. Clockwise from top left: Finger plant, grain; logo; foxtail grain, plant; pearl grain, plant; display; proso plant, grain. On 3 March 2021, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution proposed by India and fifty-one other countries, with association of the FAO, declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYOM). The declaration …

[LI] Beyond vertical farming?; biodiversity of millets; plant-based plastic

Two replies and a post on LinkedIn about topics related directly or indirectly to agriculture. Reply to a post by Rohit Talwar of a short video entitled "City Farming—Beyond Vertical Solutions," and comment "Is the future of farming beyond vertical?" (Fast Forward Publishing, 6 October, 2018) (posted April 2020) This teaser doesn't say as much …

International Year of Millets, 2023

Early last year I noted India's proposal to make 2018 the International Year of Millets (IYOM) and its subsequent rolling out of its own National Year of Millets in the same year. Apparently that IYOM proposal, submitted to FAO too late in 2017 to realistically have a chance, has been working its way through the …

An International Year of Millets?

India is celebrating 2018 as its National Year of Millets. This follows a proposal by the government of India to the United Nations (UN) in late 2017 to make 2018 the International Year of Millets (which I'll abbreviate IYOM). The purpose of IYOM would have been to highlight the importance of diverse millets for for …

[LI] Sapir-Whorf in our millet? Vocabulary & food diversity

Most English speakers on hearing "millet" would understand a small round grain commonly sold as birdseed, and which also finds its way into multigrain foods. In that, they wouldn't be off, but the term itself, generic as it is, arguably leads to thinking about a variety of related but distinct grains as being vaguely the …

Four millets: More grains & the “millet spectrum”

The word "millet" in English is an inexact term. It can refer to any one of a number of cereals that have roundish grains, of which the four most cultivated worldwide - pearl/bajri, foxtail/xiaomi, proso, and finger/ragi - have been highlighted in the previous posts in this series. It can also refer collectively to all …

Four millets: 4. Proso millet

Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) is the fourth millet to be profiled in this series and the third most widely produced in the world. It may have originated in what is now northeastern China, but spread to other parts of Asia and to Europe in ancient times. Proso is described on the sites of the Agricultural …

Four millets: 3. Foxtail millet, or xiaomi

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is the oldest cultivated millet, the most important in East Asia, and the second most cultivated worldwide. It is believed to have been domesticated first in China, with evidence of cultivation going back about 8700 years. The species name as well as some vernacular names reflect its historic significance in Europe. …