[Jessarah]

I wonder if this is referring to 'maize' or the process of breaking things into small pieces as in "corned-beed"?

I'm glad you posted that sentence because I could never figure out why "corned beef" was called "corned beef". I thought it had something to do with feeding the livestock corn :-) After I read your post, it inspired me to look up the real meaning. Thanks!

[NativeSon]

I'm glad you posted that sentence because I could never figure out why "corned beef" was called "corned beef".

I have always been interested in language and word origins. I picked up some years ago a "history of words" -it was the ultimate bathroom reader.

It is one thing to know what words mean and quite another as to 'why'.