Sweet potato

The word for sweet potato or camote (Ipomoea batata, "camote" first attested in English in 1842 Haugen (2009) ) in Southern Uto-Aztecan languages, is derived from the root PSUA *kamáwi.

Ipomoea batata was first cultivated in the Amazon spread across the Andes and was brought to Mesoamerica from there, and it is interesting to note that in Quechua it's name is kumara (which also spread to the Polynesian languages), while in Aymara it is qama (Adelaar & Muysken 2004:41). It seems a fascinating possibility that PSUA *kama could have originated as a Wanderwort, arriving in Mesoamerica with South American sea-faring traders who also brought the tuber.

The word "camote" is borrowed from Nahuatl camohtli into Spanish camote, which was in turn borrowed into English.

PCN *kamáwi

Proto-Nahuatl *kamoh < *kamow

based on:

Nahuatl kamoh- <camoh-tli> "sweet potato / batata, raíz comestible" (Karttunen 1992:24)

Wixárika kamáwi <camávi> "camote de castilla" (Grimes et al. 1981:19)

Náayeri kamwah <camuaj> "sweet potato / batata, raíz comestible" (McMahon & McMahon 1959:16)

PSUA: *kamáwi

based on:

Eudeve kamá <camá> "calabaza" OPA1:109 (Pennington 1981:109)

Tepehuán kamaʔb <kama'b> "camote" TEP1:195