An alternative spelling of brinjal, the eggplant or aubergine vegetable common in South Asian cuisine.
From Portuguese 'berinjela' (from Arabic 'bādinǧān'), a word that traveled along trade routes from Southeast Asia through the Middle East and into European languages.
This word shows how spice trade routes shaped language—the eggplant traveled from India to Europe via Arab merchants, and so did its name, getting transformed differently in each language.
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