Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.15908

c10.15908

**YAM**, s. This general name in English of the large edible tuber *Dioscorea* seems to be a corruption of the name used in the W. Indies at the time of the discovery. [Mr. Platt (9 ser. *N. & Q.* v. 226 seq.) suggests that the original form was *nyam* or *nyami*, in the sense of ‘food,’ *nyami* meaning ‘to eat’ in the Fulah language of Senegal. The cannibal *Nyam-Nyams*, of whom Miss Kingsley gives an account (*Travels in W. Africa*, 330 seq.) appear to take their name from the same word.]