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Aside from the popular folk etymology that the word came to English from the Cantonese keh jup (茄汁 ke2 zap1, literally meaning "tomato sauce" in Cantonese), there are many serious competing etymological theories about the origins of the word "ketchup (catsup)".  The main types are Amoy (Minnan, Fujian / Hokkien), Malay, and Euro-Arabic.  (source).  I will not rehash all of them here, because they are readily available at OED, Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Etymonline, AHD, etc.  Rather, I will only speak to a few points that are directly related to the skit above, and also provide some fascinating material from the long collection of comments in the Language Log post listed below that is not readily available elsewhere.  Incidentally, that lengthy LL post, together with its nearly hundred comments, also does a masterful job with "sauce" (including its South Texas usage for salad dressing, the Italian-American divide over "sauce" and "gravy", African dishes such as jambalaya, etc.).

Bear in mind that all of the information given below is as of January, 2012, and this is but a small selection of what may be found in that post.

 

Toni Tan (1/6/12): 

“Ketchup” in Singapore is called “tomato sauce” by some.

 

Robert S. Bauer (1/9/12):

Recently, I was working on the lexical entry "gip1 zap1" [喼汁] for the ABC Cantonese-English dictionary. This word is the Cantonese name for Worcestershire sauce which was invented by two men surnamed Lea and Perrins in England and has been for sale to the public since 1838. It was brought to HK sometime in the 19th century and has now become a part of Cantonese cuisine. In visits to several HK supermarkets I have asked the people who stock the shelves "Where can I find gip1 zap1?" (but said in Cantonese), and they know precisely what it is and where to find it on the shelf.

If you Google the Chinese characters for gip1 zap1, you discover there is a Lea and Perrins website in Chinese that tells all about it. [VHM: google on: 急汁 lea & perrins; the first character should actually be written with the mouth radical, thus 喼, but 急 seems to work too.] The English and Chinese Wikipedias give the correct information that Cantonese gip1 zap1 is Worcestershire sauce.  By the way, the label of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce has the Cantonese/Chinese equivalent printed just below it as 李派林喼汁.

gip1 zap1 喼汁 ‘Worcestershire sauce’
The name 喼汁 is used by the manufacturer Lea & Perrins as the official name of the product, and it appears on the label along with the the phonetic transliteration in Chinese characters of the name Lea & Perrins, i.e. 李派林喼汁 lei5 paai3 lam4 gip1 zap1.

At the present time the morphosyllable 喼 gip1 has no isolatable or identifiable meaning, so one question to be answered is, what is the origin of 喼 gip1 in 喼汁? It is possible that gip1 originally had something to do with taste. The morphosyllable gip3 (with mid tone) has the following entry on page 435 of Bai Wanru’s 白宛如Cantonese-Chinese dictionary 廣州方言詞典 (江蘇教育出版社, 1998): “o劫 [o = mouth radical]: kipL [pronunciation transcribed in IPA, so romanized as gip3] 澀味 [= astringent taste]: 柿未熟得透, 好~ [ci5 mei6 suk6 dak1 tau3, hou2 gip3 ‘the persimmon is not yet thoroughly ripe, so it has a quite astringent/puckery taste’]; ~口 [gip3 hau2 ‘mouth feels puckery because of the astringent taste’]; ~口~脷 [gip3 hau2 gip3 lei6 ‘both mouth and tongue feel puckery because of the astringent taste’].

I recently checked seven Cantonese dictionaries that included an entry for this word with a gloss and simple etymology. Of the seven I consulted only one (!) had the correct English equivalent "Worcestershire sauce" (Sidney Lau's A Practical Cantonese-English Dictionary, HK Govt. Printer, 1977). The other six all claimed incorrectly the word means "ketchup/catsup" and is a loan from this English word. For example, 廣州話正音字典 edited by 詹伯慧 on page 257 claims that gip1 zap1 is made from tomatoes and soy sauce and is the phonetic transliteration of English "catsup".

However, this is complete nonsense, as the word means 'Worcestershire sauce'. If one checks the label for the ingredients, one will notice there is no mention of tomatoes. So, apparently what has happened among these Cantonese lexicographers is that they have copied from each other's entry, and so false information has gotten passed on from one dictionary to another. Of course, this is most unfortunate since the information is incorrect. I think the editors at Cantonesesheik.co.uk have also copied the entry on gip1 zap1 from these dictionaries, and so again the false information continues to be passed around.

I suppose what speakers who don't know anything about this word do is what the lexicographers did, and that is to make up/invent a plausible-sounding meaning for the word. I have asked several different speakers what is gip1 zap1. Those who didn't know it is Worcestershire sauce have suggested that it might mean ketchup. Two people I asked (both of them are professors who had studied for their Ph.D. degrees in the U.K.) did know gip1 zap1 means Worcestershire sauce.

 

Victor Mair (1/9/12):

Just so that we don't confuse "gip1 zap1″ [喼汁] (Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce) with "ketchup" — as so many people seem to be doing in Hong Kong these days (see the note by Bob Bauer above) — although the etymology of the latter is contested, the phonology of the former (in particular the final -p of the first syllable) ensures that it is not the source of "ketchup". The second syllable of both, however, undoubtedly comes from Sinitic 汁 ("juice"). In Modern Standard Mandarin (MSM), that would be pronounced zhī, but in southern topolects (e.g., Cantonese, Taiwanese) it would have a final -p.

 

JMS (1/9/12):

The claimed etymology for ketchup that I am most familiar with is Cantonese (or other southern) 茄汁 ke4*2 zap1, but I have no idea if such a term has real history within the Chinese languages or is rather a late calque-cum-phonetic loan…

 

julie lee (1/9/12):

Ke- tchup simply means "tomato juice or sauce" in Cantonese. However, I asked a Cantonese friend: "What do you think is the origin of the English word KETCHUP?" She said: "I don't know." I pronounced ketchup "KETCHip", with accent on KETCH. Then I said: "It means ke-e-e- TCHUP", dragging out the e and putting stress on -TCHUP and making it a shrill high tone, as in Cantonese. Then she said: "Of course, that's tomato sauce!!"

 

Mandy Chan (1/9/12):

HK people like to use 喼汁 on spring rolls and other crunchy stuff — this is the most local way of doing it. If you go yum cha and order a dish of spring rolls, the cart ladies would certainly ask you if you want 喼汁 with that. Maybe it sounds weird to non-HKers, but a 春卷 is not the same without 喼汁 !!

 

Zev Handel  (1/10/12):

Although Cantonese 茄汁 seems a plausible etymology for English ketchup, and although it is often listed as the origin in lexicographic sources, it now seems clear that this is a false lead, and that the real source is in fact 鲑汁, an archaic word for "fish sauce" in Zhangzhou-area Southern Min dialect of Fujian.

 

Geoff Wade (1/10/12):

In HK, everyone tells you that the origin is in Cantonese pronunciation of 茄汁.

However, the short first vowel of the English phonetics suggest that it was initially borrowed from the Malay/Indonesian kicap/kichap/kecap — referring throughout maritime Se Asia to fermented sauces, including soy sauce:

—–

Indonesian

In Indonesia, soy sauce is known as kecap (also ketjap or kecap), which is a catch-all term for fermented sauces, and cognate to the English word "ketchup".[21] Three common varieties of Indonesian soy-based kecap exist:

Kecap asin
Salty soy sauce, which is very similar to Chinese light soy sauce, but usually somewhat thicker and has a stronger flavor; it can be replaced by light Chinese soy sauce in recipes.
Kecap manis
Sweet soy sauce, which has a thick, almost syrupy consistency and a pronounced sweet, treacle-like flavor due to generous addition of palm sugar. In cooking, it may be replaced by molasses with a little vegetable stock stirred in.
Kecap manis sedang
Medium sweet soy sauce, which has a less thick consistency and a more saline taste than Manis.

————

This term kicap/kichap/kecap is undoubtedly a borrowing from Chinese and, as you say, the final element of this will certainly be 汁 (Mod. Hokkien zap7. The big question is what the first syllable represents. I think we need to be looking at a borrowing from a Min language rather than Cantonese, given the early nature of this borrowing into Malay and the fact that most early borrowings were from Min languages. Given the ubiquitousness of fish sauces in Se Asia, it probably initially referred to a fish sauce and thus 鮭汁 (although the modern Quanzhou Hokkien pronunciation is guê2zap7) seems to have a pretty good claim to being where it all started.

Has a Chinese precedent

Carstairs Douglas

DICTIONARY

OF THE

VERNACULAR OR SPOKEN LANGUAGE

OF

AMOY,

WITH THE PRINCIPAL VARIATIONS

OF THE CHANG-CHEW AND CHIN-CHEW DIALECTS.
p. 242 column 1

kOe [R. hai, a sort of fish], (C. ke; Cn. koe), salted

or pickled fish or shell-fish (the name of the fish or shellfish

is prefixed). koe-chiap, brine of pickled fish or

shell-fish. si"-kOe,,to pickle, as fish or shell-fish. hikoe,

pickled fish. he—koe, pickled shrimps. hekae-

phoa, do. broken down small.

k6e [R. kli, to separate the parts

IV. The Regimen.
As to Diet, it must be Nourishing, Warm|ing, Comforting, and Titillating, with realish|ing and high Sauces, Oisters, Anchovy, Caviare, Cockles, Ketchup, Mango's, Garlick, Onions, Leeks, Bears Garlick, Rocket, Sives, Shelot, Ginger, Aro|maticks, RoSingle illegible letterts of Satyrion, Feaverfew, Goats-beard, Silver-weed, Skirrets, Parsnips, and Artichoaks.
From:

Jones, John, 1645-1709.
Title: The mysteries of opium reveal'd by Dr. John Jones … ; who, I. Gives an account of the name, make, choice, effects, &c. of opium, II. Proves all former opinions of its operation to be meer chimera's, III. Demonstrates what its true cause is, by which he easily, and mechanically explains all (even its most mysterious) effects, IV. Shews its noxious principle, and how to separate it, thereby rendering it a safe, and noble panacea, whereof, V. He shews the palliative, and curative use.
Date: 1700

# 2. By Artificial Sauces we imitate the natural foetid and sub-acid Slime of the Stomach, as in Catchup, Mango, Plumbs, Mushrooms, and some Indian Liquors or Sauces of Garlic, assa foetida,—Salt, and Aromatics, Mustard-Seed, with Vinegar in common Mustard.

from:
Author: Floyer, John, Sir, 1649-1734.
Title: The preternatural state of animal humours described by their sensible qualities, which depend on the different degrees of their fermentation and the cure of each particular cacochymia is performed by medicines of a peculiar specific taste, described : to this treatise are added two appendixes I. About the nature of fevers and their ferments and cure by particular tastes, II. Concerning the effervescence and ebullition of the several cacochymia's … / by the author of Pharmacho bazagth.
Date: 1696

1711, Charles Lockyer, An Account of the Trade in India 128

* "Soy comes in Tubbs from Japan, and the best Ketchup from Tonquin; yet good of both sorts are made and sold very cheap in China."

What is Tonkin famous for? Fish sauce!

 

Eugene Anderson (1/10/12)

Zev Handel and the others with this idea are right. The Southern Min word got to Indonesia and got used for soy sauce and such, there, and was carried back to Europe. The Indonesian preparations begat Lea and Perrins' great creation, which then spread to Hong Kong complete with a much-altered variant of the Southern Min name. All this happened BEFORE tomato ketchup was invented, except probably that last step (with Lea and Perrins in HK), so ketchup can't be from "tomato sauce."

 

H. T. Toh (1/11/12):

Here is what has been offered so far in the Indonesian & Malaysian Wikipedia:

Indonesian kecap

Malaysian kicap

Malasyian sos tomato

 

Alan Chin (1.11.12)

The Southeast Asian connection is self-evident in the taste of modern ketchup, which supports the Min rather than Yue derivation, as well documented above, thank you.

What's really interesting to me is that if the historical 鮭汁 led to both 茄汁 and 喼汁, what we have is a branching off of the tomato based sauce from the fish / soy based sauces. In terms of taste and use, Worcestershire sauce is closer to a fish / soy based sauce than it is to anything with tomatoes in it, yet the modern Canto word 茄汁 sounds more like the original?

H. T. Toh (1/12/12):

Here is just a quick note (not a solution to the "ketchup" problem). If I were asked to suggest yet another etymology, I guess a forgotten alternative is perhaps Chaozhou 潮州 kue-tsap. I am not sure whether one should call it a sort of mixed gravy/soup, or whatsoever.

A quick English reference for Chaozhou/Teochew kue-tsap may be found here.

Flat rice noodles 粿汁 Kueh Jarp A dish of flat, broad rice sheets in a soup made from dark soy sauce served with pig offal, braised duck meat, various kinds of beancurd, preserved salted vegetables and braised hard-boiled eggs.

A semantic shift (to that of "sauces") in a borrowed lexicon such as this is not unintelligible.

 

Bottom line

There's a big difference between "gip1 zap1″ [喼汁] (Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce) and ketchup.  The former has no tomatoes (see the Wikipedia article); the latter has plenty of them.

 

Afterword

"What's sauce for the goose is (not always) sauce for the gander."

 

Selected readings

• "'Sauce' and 'caravanserai': linguistic notes from southeast Texas" (1/4/12) — with 97 substantial comments, this is one of the richest collections of notes on the catsup conundrum available anywhere, with plentiful, flavorful observations on "sauce".
• "Ketchup", a virtuoso blog post on The Language of Food (9/2/09) by Dan Jurafsky

 

[h.t. Bill Benzon]

October 30, 2023 @ 12:20 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Etymology, Language and food

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