Portabella? portabello? portobello? portobella?

Definitively, please.

Thank you,
Archae0pteryx

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 28 Jun 2005 12:11 PDT

Tryx,

My unabridged Merriam-Webster gives multiple acceptable spellings,
listing them as a "main entry" and "variants." Would the text of this
definition meet your needs for definitiveness?

~Pink

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Clarification of Question by archae0pteryx-ga on 28 Jun 2005 23:39 PDT

Hi, Pinkie, and thanks for your interest in my question.

I made an assumption (possibly incorrect) that it's an actual Italian
word and not just a derivative or coinage, and so I'm not looking for
a sanctioned-by-usage anglicization but information that solidly roots
one form over another in an authentic Italian expression.  That might
mean citing the place it's named after, or defining in as a maculine
or feminine noun + adjective, or identifying the eponymous botanist,
or something.  In other words, I want more than a statement that it's
right according to a descriptive authority.  I want a reason why it's
right; that's what will make it definitive.

Thanks,
Tryx

Greetings Tryx,

The people cooking them on the web use all variations, including "porta bella".

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/apr2001.html
http://www.producepair.com/Grilled_Mushrooms/body_grilled_mushrooms.html
http://portabellamushroomrecipe.com/
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/portobellosportabellas.htm
  (has some suspicious etymological suggestions)
http://www.foodreference.com/html/fportobellomushrooms.html
  (generously offers all the spellings) 

I would choose "portabella", since the endings in A seem more correct
for Italian  ( a couple of restaurants named Porta Bella were also
found), and the two word version indicates that the endings should
agree.

Portobello  - a town in Panama -  suggests that this could a Spanish
variation (and also suggesting that mixed endings  - portabello,
portobella -  would grate on the ear of any Romance language speaker).

Speculation is not definitive, take Pink's advice,
Myoarin

If they are especially plump, maybe they're "portlybelly" mushrooms.

According to blogger Languagehat, there is no known definitive derivation.

http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001665.php

Tryx,

I hope someone will be able to find something that meets your needs.
Merriam-Webster gives this:

"portobello
 variant: also portabella or portobella

perhaps alteration of Italian prataiolo, prataiuolo or dialect Italian
pratarolo meadow mushroom, from prato meadow, from Latin pratum...

a cultivated mushroom belonging to a large dark meaty variety of the
button mushroom"

Although there are several places in the world named Portobello, I
haven't seen any evidence that the mushroom is related to them.

archaeOpteryx?  archaeopteryx?  archae0pteryx?  archæ0pteryx?

Hi Pinky,
I just mentioned the city to suggest that "portabella" or "portobello"
would seem to be preferred spellings.

Here is another site that seems to prefer "portabella" and describes
the mushroom as a larger variety than Agaricus bisporus or Crimini:

http://www.creeksidemushrooms.com/portabella.htm

This Italian site found with "agaricus bisporus" gives "champignon"
and "Prataioiolo" as common names (though I think the spelling which I
copied has "io" once too often), and mentions a variety  avellaneus 
as a brown type:

http://www.giornaledibrescia.it/iniziative/funghi/fungo04.htm

and this site gives a photo and the English name as "brown mushroom":

http://www.xs4all.nl/~margjos/fchamp.htm

Here is a better photo to be sure we are still talking about the same mushroom:

http://www.laboratorio-analytical.it/ElencoRegionale/generi/Agaricus/AgaricusBisporus2.html

THE Italian cookbook, "Il Cucchiaio d'Argenta," (equivalent to "Joy of
Cooking") does not used "porta(o)bella(o)", and nor does "J of C".

"Big, yummy brown mushroom" (especially preferred by prehistoric birds).

Forget the above, which isn't much use anyway and check this site:
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http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/portobellosportabellas.htm

"Portobello - pronounced [por-toh-BEHL-loh]
The portobello also called portabella is really simply a brown crimini
mushroom in disguise. Evidently the usage of the two words "portobello
vs. portabella" is simply an issue of a marketing brand. Once the
little brown crimini grows up to be about 4" - 6" in diameter he is
deemed to be a portobello.

portobello.jpg (23414 bytes)
Portobello (portabella) mushrooms, photo by: GourmetSleuth.com

And How It Got Its Name
A brown crimini mushroom is a juvenile portobello. There as many
theories on the heritage of the name as there were for why is a
Flatiron steak called a Flatiron steak!  We referred to Elizabeth
Schneider's vegetable bible "Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini" for
some truth and learned that the only information available is theory. 
It seems that there are as many "origins" as there are experts to
quote them.  Here are some of the main ones:
Chipotle Dot  Named after Portobello Road in London which has many
high end antique shops and other fashionable establishments.
Chipotle Dot  Named after a T.V. show called Portobello
Chipotle Dot  The portobello in Northern Italy is called "capellone"
which means "big hat".

The most important thing to know is that it is a big brown mushroom. 
Its little brother (crimini) is a little brown mushroom.

("Chipotle Dot" is a little red square in the text.)

"Capellone" led to this more interesting site:

http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/kgk/2002/0402/kgk042602.html

It does indded seem that the name "portobello" has nothing to do with
an Italian name for the "funghi", but is the spelling of choice.

Myoarin

Myoarin, I believe you have got it.  That is exactly the information I
was looking for.  The dictionary treatment isn't definitive because
the word isn't authentic!  My research didn't get me there.  I
consider the question answered and the mystery solved, and I bow
politely in your direction to say a sincere thank-you.  Now I no
longer have to muffle my pronunciation because I don't know which way
to say it; I'll just pick "portobello" and go with it.  In my line of
work, I am expected to know things like that, and so I try to have
ready and reliable answers.

Pink, thank you for your comments, too, and especially for adding a
portly belly to my set of visual associations with this word.  Now I
see a stout little Italian guy with a smooth mushroom-cap tummy
showing where his pants and shirt have parted company.  He is smiling
and holding up a little crimini mushroom in one hand and a big one, a
capellone, in the other.

I am *not* going to ask about the name "crimini."  Luckily there
appears to be only one way to spell it.

Tryx

Tryx,
It's all my pleasure, especially for you.  :)
Good think you don't want to know about crimini.  The word in Italian
seems to only related to criminal (...only to relate...).

By the way, does anyone know what happened to the "sponsored links" here?
 Regards, Myoarin