[This entry is taken from a chapter of Part II of the open-source textbook Spanish-English Cognates: An Unconventional Introduction to Spanish Linguistics.]
[Go to Part 1 of Words for Mushrooms and Other Fungi]
Mushrooms: Introduction
Mushrooms are a delicacy for many people, more so in some
cultures than others. We’re referring here to edible mushrooms, of course,
since there are other types as well, in particular poisonous, medicinal, and
psychotropic ones. A mushroom is basically the above-ground reproductive
structure or ‘fruiting body’ (Sp. cuerpo fructífero) of fungi from the phylum
Basidiomycota, which along with the phylum Ascomycota (sac
fungi or ascomycetes) form the subkingdom Dikarya (‘higher
fungi’) of the kingdom Fungi. Besides mushrooms, the phylum Basidiomycota
contains other organisms, such as Cryptococcus, a genus of yeastlike
fungus that includes some serious pathogens for humans.[1]
In other words, a mushroom is the part of a type of fungus
that protrudes from its underground ‘network of fine white filaments’ known as mycelium
[maɪ̯.ˈsiɫ.i.əm] (Sp. micelio).[2]
As we just said, mushrooms can be used as a food, though some varieties are
poisonous and even deadly.[i]
A mushroom can be defined technically as ‘a spore-producing fungal growth,
often edible and typically having a domed cap with gills on the underside’
(COED). Mushrooms can be of the saprotrophic type, which feed on decaying
organic matter, or mycorrhizal, which have symbiotic association with plants,
such as trees (see above).
In Figure 2
below, you can see a very common edible fungus (mushroom) commonly found in
woodlands in Europe and North America, known popularly as clouded agaric
or cloud funnel, whose botanical name is Clitocybe nebularis.
There are about 300 species of the genus Clitocybe and many of them are
poisonous. Unfortunately, it is not easy to discern whether a species of this
genus is edible or not without a microscope. Clitocybe nebularis is
considered edible by some, but others complain of gastric discomfort when they
eat them.[ii]
_tussen_afgevallen_beukenblad_(d.j.b.)_01.jpg)
There are more than 10,000 species of mushrooms. They can be
divided into different types according to how they are used by humans. Most
mushrooms are edible, but there are also poisonous ones as well as ‘magic’
ones, the least common, with hallucinogenic or mind-altering properties.
Poisonous mushrooms have different degrees of toxicity to humans, causing from
minor gastrointestinal discomfort to death. What makes a mushroom poisonous is toxins
that the mushroom produces to defend itself, to prevent it from being eaten.
Some mushrooms, however, want to be eaten for that is how their spores are
spread by the animals who eat them, in their feces.
Many poisonous mushrooms look very similar to edible ones,
which calls for caution when collecting wild mushrooms in the forest. Even
among the harmless (non-poisonous) ones, many are not really fit for
consumption because they may be too bitter, too tough, or too slimy. Mushrooms
have also been used throughout time in folk medicine, the so-called medicinal
mushrooms (Sp. hongos/setas medicinales), though there is little
scientific evidence that such a thing exists. Finally, mushrooms can also be
classified as to whether they are wild (Sp. hongos/setas silvestres)
and found in the forests of the world, which are the vast majority of mushrooms,
or whether they are cultivated varieties (Sp. hongos cultivados/setas
cultivadas), which are the ones that we find in stores and are thus the
most often consumed ones.[iv]
Collecting wild mushrooms is popular in many places. The activity goes by the
name of mushroom hunting, mushrooming, mushroom picking, mushroom
foraging (Sp. recolección de setas, recogida de setas, búsqueda
de setas).[v]
Again, the word mushroom refers most generally to ‘any
of various fungi that produce a fleshy fruiting body, especially one consisting
of a stalk with an umbrella-shaped cap’, though it is most commonly used to
refer to the visible part of such fungi, that is, to ‘the usually aboveground
fruiting body of any of such fungi’ (AHD). Such a ‘fruiting body’ typically
consists of three parts: the cap (pileus),[vi]
the stem (stipe) that supports the cap,[viii]
and the gills (lamellae, sing. lamella [ləˈmɛlə]) on the
underside of the cap which release the spores or reproductive particles. The
Spanish names for these parts are: (1) sombrero (or sombrerillo;
píleo), (2) pie or pedicelo (estípite), and (3) láminas,
laminillas, agallas, or lamelas, which release the esporas
‘spores’. As we can see, the technical terms are cognate in the two languages:
· Eng. pileus ~ Sp. píleo: from Lat. pillĕus ‘a felt cap or hat, made to fit close, and shaped like the half of an egg. It was worn by the Romans at entertainments and festivals, esp. at the Saturnalia, and was given to a slave at his enfranchisement as a sign of freedom (cf. petasus)’ (L&S), related to Latin pilus ‘a hair’
· Eng. stipe ~ Sp. estípite: from Lat. stīpes (gen. stīpit‑is) ‘log, post, tree-trunk’, related to Eng. stiff
·
Eng. lamella ~ Sp. lamela:
from Lat. lāmella
‘small metal plate’, diminutive of lāmĭna or lammĭna ‘thin slice,
plate, leaf, layer, lamina’, cf. Sp. lámina ‘sheet, plate’
·
Eng. spore ~ Sp. espora:
from Modern Latin spora, from Ancient Greek σπορά (sporá) ‘seed’, related to the verb σπείρω (speírein) ‘to sow’, from the Proto-Indo-European
root *sper‑ ‘to strew, sprinkle, scatter’, source of Eng. spread,
spray, and sprout
[1] The word
Ascomycota is derived from Ancient Greek ἀσκός
(askós) ‘sac, wineskin’. The word Cryptococcus means ‘hidden
sphere’ or, literally, ‘hidden berry’, from Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós) ‘hidden, secret’ and
κόκκος
(kókkos) ‘grain, seed’. The word Dikarya is derived from dikaryon,
a term in biology for a hypha that has two nuclei (di‑ + karyon).
For an excellent introduction to mushrooms, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tqKQ1GrEy4
[2] The word
mycelium is a New (Scientific) Latin word derived from the root of the Ancient
Greek word μύκης (múkēs) ‘mushroom’
and the Latin suffix ‑ĭum,
with a strange ‘linking’ ‑l‑ in between.
[i] Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_mushroom,
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seta_comestible
[ii] Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitocybe_nebularis,
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitocybe
[iii] By Dominicus Johannes Bergsma - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84242752 (2020.0404)
[iv] Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_hunting,
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recolecci%C3%B3n_de_setas;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungiculture
[v] Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_hunting,
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recolecci%C3%B3n_de_setas
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