ABSTRACT
Ford 1975, Cobos 1983, Howard 1984) tac (Ofo) tobacco [tobaco, tobago, topaco] (to the Taino of the Caribbean, tabaco
meant what we today call a cigar; “tobacco” was applied after the plant was introduced to Europe); pyé tabak (country tobacco, Haiti); tabac [tabak] (France, Haiti); tabac mannoque (manoque is from manoca, a fistful, and specifically refers to a bundle of leaves tied together at the base, using one of the leafstems, Haiti); tabacco (Italian); tabaco (Puerto Rico); tabaco de olor (fragrant tobacco, Dominican Republic), Tabak (German); tombaca [tobac] (Gaelic)
tsit [tsigg] (Atakapa) twahko [twahku] (Miskito, Nicaragua); wì’rú (Paya, Honduras) uppówoc (they puff it, Carolina Algonquian, North Carolina); vhpooc
[ahpooc, apookan, apooke, pooc, uhpoocan, upooc] (N. rustica; Powhatan, Virginia; Strachey 1612)
yani’ (Biloxi) yetl (Náhuatl, Mexico); picietl [pecielt] (from piciliui, reduce in size,
yetl, tobacco; N. rustica, Náhuatl, Mexico) zèb a la rèn (kidney herb, Haiti); herbe à la reine, queen’s herb; a
mistake for zèb a la rén?)
My introduction to tobacco came early because my father and grandfather smoked, but my most vivid early recollection is about the plant as medicine. When I was still too young to be in school, I developed a terrible earache. We lived outside the city limits, and that was before there were telephones to summon a physician. I remember lying on the couch sobbing from the painful throbbing. My father lit up a cigarette, squatted beside me, and gently blew smoke into my ear. Almost immediately the pain lessened. A few more puffs, and the aching was gone. I was greatly relieved, and can easily understand why early Europeans like Jean Nicot considered the weed medicinal.
