Definition of "Calalu"

Definition of "Calalu"

From Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary

Before the actual entry is supplied, please note that there are a number of territorial abbreviations for the various territories of the Caribbean which are as follows:

Angu	Anguilla	Guyn	Guyana
CtRi	Costa Rica	Mart	Martinique
Dmca	Dominica	Mrat	Montserrat
Cuba	Cuba	StVn	St. Vincent
FrCa	French Caribbean	Tbgo	Tobago
FrGy	French Guiana	Trin	Trinidad
Guad	Guadeloupe

Calalu² (Dmca, StVn, Tbgo, Trin) (cal.(l)al.loo (ou, u), ka(l).la.loo) [kalalu] n., Angu, Antg pepperpot² ; Guyn crab-and-calalu; Mrat, StVn calalu-soup. A very thick soup made of calalu ¹ or dasheen leaves mixed with other ingredients such as okras, root vegetables, crabs and herbs, dumplings, saltbeef or ham-bone, green peppers and herbs, all boiled together; it is served as a main meal, often on Sundays; this dish is also the national dish of Trin & Tbgo.

1. In his own way Pinheiro exports T & T culture by, as a religious ritual, cooking calalloo, having a constant supply of soca and reggae – much in the same way as mas camps in Trinidad operate . . . —(CaW Jan 97, Vol.8, No.7, p.35). 1. FrCa herbage de calalou m.,; Guad, Mart calalou m., kalalou m., Hait calalou des morts m.,
   2. FrGy calalou guyanais m., Guad soupe à Congo f., Mart soupe z'habitant f., soupe z'herbage f.
2. a. Elle lui avait promis un kalalou au déjeuner. —SSA: 44. b. On a fini tout le boudin . . .
   et la soupe à congo, avec l'appetit des goulouprats à dents-en-gorge. –MIS: 232.
   CtRi calalú m.: Cuba sopa calalú f.
3. El vocablo calalú, como se dijo se aplica tanto a las hojas como a los guisos que con
   ellas se preparan, es de origin yoruba, y lo encontramos en todos los países caribeños y en Brasil . . . —RCMCL: 24.

*OGA: 94 suggests two African sources, Malinke kalalu 'many things' and Mandingo colilu, 'an edible herb resembling spinach'. NEAPR: 261 notes that Père Labat had, since 1694, noted the use of the dish callarou by Negros and poor people in the Fr. Islands. He also noted that in Hait, calalou des morts, made from a mixture of various different dishes, was served to participants of the Zombi cult (said to be of Igbo or Carabeli origin) before the tomb of a dead person whose spirit needed to be appeased. ADMY supplies Yoruba ko-ra-lu vb 'mix several bought things together'. The Spanish equivalent for CtRi is found in Limón because of the influence of Jamaican migrants of African origin.

Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary, p.119

NOTE: calalu¹ in the entry is the actual leafy green vegetable with which the soup, as defined above, is made.

N.B. Other abbreviations are for books used within the dictionary text and are as follows:

CaW     Caribbean Week (a weekly journal of several issues – 1993 – 2000).

SSA     Stanley, Lyne-Marie, La saison des Abattis. Cayenne-Kourou (Guyane Française): Ibis Rouge Editions, no date.

MIS     Maximin, Daniel. Isolé soleil. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1981.

RCMCL     Ross de Cerdas, Marjorie. La magia de la cocina limonense. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, 1991.

OGA     Ortiz, Fernando. Glosario de afronegrismos. Havana: Librería Cervantes, 1924.

NEAPR     Nazario, M.A. El elemento afronegroide en el español de Puerto RicoE.
San Juan: Instituto de Cultural Puertorriqueña, 1961.

ADMY     Abraham, R.C. Dictionary of Modern Yoruba. Univ. of London Press, 1958.

The words in small caps in the entry are other headwords to be found in the Caribbean Multilingual Dictionary.