Editing Ginger (section)

==Origin and distribution==
[[File:Zingiber officinale flower crop.jpg|thumb|left|Ginger flower]]
[[File:Flower of Ginger1.jpg|thumb|Ginger flower]]
Ginger originated from [[Maritime Southeast Asia]]. It is a true [[cultigen]] and does not exist in its wild state.<ref name="Ravindran2016">{{cite book|title=Ginger: The Genus Zingiber|last1=Ravindran|first1=P.N.|last2=Nirmal Babu|first2=K.|date=2016|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4200-2336-7|location=Boca Raton|page=7}}</ref><ref name="singh"/> The most ancient evidence of its domestication is among the [[Austronesian peoples]] where it was among several species of [[Zingiberaceae|ginger]] cultivated and exploited since ancient times. They cultivated other gingers including turmeric (''[[Curcuma longa]]''), white turmeric (''[[Curcuma zedoaria]]''), and bitter ginger (''[[Zingiber zerumbet]]''). The rhizomes and the leaves were used to flavour food or eaten directly. The leaves were also used to weave mats. Aside from these uses, ginger had religious significance among Austronesians, being used in rituals for healing and for asking protection from spirits. It was also used in the blessing of [[Austronesian ships]].<ref name="Viestad">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TvQhVrQ7bzkC|title=Where Flavor Was Born: Recipes and Culinary Travels Along the Indian Ocean Spice Route|last1=Viestad|first1=Andreas|publisher=Chronicle Books|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8118-4965-4|location=San Francisco|pages=89}}</ref><ref name="Ross2008Lexicon">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/106908|title=The lexicon of Proto Oceanic: The culture and environment of ancestral Oceanic society|last1=Ross|first1=Malcolm|publisher=Pacific Linguistics|year=2008|isbn=978-0-85883-589-4|editor1-last=Ross|editor1-first=Malcolm|volume=3|location=Canberra|pages=389–426|chapter=Other cultivated plants|editor2-last=Pawley|editor2-first=Andrew|editor3-last=Osmond|editor3-first=Meredith}}</ref><ref name="blusttrusell">{{cite journal|vauthors=Robert B, Trussel S|date=2013|title=The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary: A Work in Progress|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265931196|journal=[[Ocean. Linguist.]]|volume=52|issue=2|pages=493–523|doi=10.1353/ol.2013.0016|s2cid=146739541 |issn = 0029-8115 }}</ref><ref name="Ujang2015">{{cite journal|vauthors=Zanariah U, Nordin NI, Subramaniam T|date=2015|title=Ginger Species and Their Traditional Uses in Modern Applications|url=https://docplayer.net/48110504-Ginger-species-and-their-traditional-uses-in-modern-applications-section-2-p-o-box-7035-40700-shah-alam-selangor-malaysia-2.html|journal=Journal of Industrial Technology|volume=23|issue=1|pages=59–70|doi=10.21908/jit.2015.4|doi-broken-date=2 November 2024 }}</ref><ref name="Dalby2002">{{cite book|title=Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices|last=Dalby|first=Andrew|publisher=University of California Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-520-23674-5}}</ref><ref name="KikusawaReid">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/33035/A67.2007.pdf|title=Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley|last1=Kikusawa|first1=Ritsuko|last2=Reid|first2=Lawrence A.|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Co.|year=2007|isbn=978-90-272-9294-0|editor1-last=Siegel|editor1-first=Jeff|pages=339–352|chapter=Proto who used turmeric, and how?|editor2-last=Lynch|editor2-first=John Dominic|editor3-last=Eades|editor3-first=Diana|access-date=23 January 2019|archive-date=25 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125193557/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/33035/A67.2007.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ginger was carried with them in their voyages as [[canoe plant]]s during the [[Austronesian expansion]], starting from around 5,000 [[Before Present|BP]]. They introduced it to the [[Pacific Island]]s in prehistory, long before any contact with other civilizations. [[reflex (linguistics)|Reflexes]] of the [[Proto-Malayo-Polynesian]] word ''*{{lang|mis|laqia}}''<!--Proto-Malayo-Polynesian--> are found in Austronesian languages all the way to [[Hawaii]].<ref name="Blust1985">{{cite journal| title=The Austronesian Homeland: A Linguistic Perspective|journal=Asian Perspectives|last=Blust|first=Robert|volume=26|issue=1|year=1984|page=61|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|jstor=42928105}}</ref><ref name="blusttrusell"/> They also presumably introduced it to India along with other Southeast Asian food plants and [[Outrigger canoe|Austronesian sailing technologies]], during early contact by Austronesian sailors with the [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]]-speaking peoples of [[Sri Lanka]] and [[South India]] at around 3,500 [[Before Present|BP]].<ref name="Viestad"/><ref name="Dalby2002"/><ref name="Mahdi1999">{{cite book|title=Archaeology and Language III: Artefacts languages, and texts|last1=Mahdi|first1=Waruno|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=978-0-415-51870-3|editor1-last=Blench|editor1-first=Roger|series=One World Archaeology|volume=34|location=London|pages=144–179|chapter=The Dispersal of Austronesian boat forms in the Indian Ocean|editor2-last=Spriggs|editor2-first=Matthew}}</ref> It was also carried by Austronesian voyagers into [[Madagascar]] and the [[Comoros]] in the 1st millennium CE.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Beaujard P|s2cid=55763047|date=2011|title=The first migrants to Madagascar and their introduction of plants: linguistic and ethnological evidence|journal=Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa|volume=46|issue=2|pages=169–189|doi=10.1080/0067270X.2011.580142|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00706173/file/Beaujard.azania2.pdf}}</ref>

From India, it was carried by traders into the [[Middle East]] and the [[Mediterranean]] by around the 1st century CE. It was primarily grown in [[southern India]] and the [[Greater Sunda Islands]] during the [[spice trade]], along with [[Piper (genus)|peppers]], [[clove]]s, and numerous other spices.<ref name="singh">{{cite book|title=Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement|last1=Singh|first1=Ram J.|date=2011|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4200-7386-7|series=Medicinal Plants|volume=6|location=Boca Raton|pages=398}}</ref><ref name="Doran">{{cite book|title=South East Asia in the World-Economy|last1=Doran|first1=Charles F.|last2=Dixon|first2=Chris|date=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31237-0|location=Cambridge}}</ref>