“Fields of corn...” ?
In Britain, ‘Corn’ in the context of a crop refers to any cereal crop, as opposed to the US, where it refers specifically to Maize...
I had the same thought on the “fields of corn” since that crop was brought to Europe from the New World well after the Dark Ages. The Europeans had to learn how to extract nutritional value that the New World natives had not shared with the invaders.
Yep, Maize and Corn are confusing.
Today, Maize is small round grain, smaller than a BB. It can be reddish or white. Corn is a large kernel grain.
At different points in time Maize has been used to describe both.
corn refers to any grain crop. Americans call maize “corn” but the word in other countries is still used the older way.
In Britain, “corn” is a generic term meaning any cereal grain. “Maize” is their word for what whe call corn.
“Corn” in England is wheat or grain in general.The word came to ne applied to Amerìcan maize because it was the American grain, the American “corn.” Maize in England is the specific grain that Americans call corn.