Mahogany Name Controversy - Forest History Society
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Reprinted from ECO NO MI C BOTANY, Vol. ~2, No. 1, Jauuary-:'lfarch, ]9G8
Mahogany Name Controversy
F. BRUCE LAMB 1
An understanding of a phenomenon as the name mahogan y used for just any big
complex as the controversy over the use and tree or reddish wood, as Malone would have
meaning of the word mahogany requires us believe.
consideration of both intra-linguistic and The excell ence of mahogany (Swiet enia
extra-linguistic factors ( 3, p. 94). The con- spp .) was soon observed by the Spaniards in
tention has developed largely around t}1e colonial times, as a result of use in both
P-ornrnercial use of the name, but has ha d naval and civil construction. Oviedo (13,
other ramifications. In a recent commentary, p. 89 ) was tl: e first to state this specifi cally
Malone (10) makes a whimsical attempt to when he wrote in 1535, "Mahogany
justify an untenable position taken earlier (= r oaban = Su:iete ,iiu) is one of the big-
(9) that mahogany is a generic tern1 in gest and best trees and has the best wood .. .
origin and usag-e. In both of the above among those found on the island of Hispani-
citations Malone explains his linguisti c facts ola . ... I n all p ar ts of the world this wood
without due reg ard to their descriptive and would he esteemed . .. .''
historical con text. It did not take the British long to perceive
Malone (10, p.286) is in error when he the excellence of mahogany as they becam e
suggests that the Bahama I sland term active in the Caribbean area. They became
'madeira' used for mahogany "is merely a acquainted with it both through their contact
translation of a native term mahogany and with the Spaniards and from their own
that this term meant simply 'wood.' " The observations . As a result, a very active trade
natives of the Bahamas were Lucayans. They with England in mahogany lumber de-
were of the Arawak tribe, as we1-e the veloped, beginning before 1700. According
Indians of Cuba, H ispaniola, and Jamaica, to Swabey (16), "during the early period of
and th ey spoke the same language (2) . Th e the British occupation of Jamaica from 1665
Arawak name for the mahogany tree (Swi e- on, considerable quantities of mahogany, S.
tenia sp .) was caoba ( caoban, caobano ) on mahagoni, were exported." London import
a ll these islands, including the Bahamas. The statisti cs filed at th e Public R ecords Office
"native t erm rnahogany" meaning simply fi rs t n:ention mahogany ( rnoh ogony) for the
wood cannot be substantiated, because th e period 1699-1700. An a dv ertisement of a
word mahogany did not exist in the native mahogany ( mohagony) sale was published
Lucayan language of the Bahama I slands. in the London Gazett e on February 22,
The f urther statement that "on th e Bahama 1702. The period from 1725 to 1825 is
Islands mahogany was the wood par excel- spoken of as the golden age of mahogany in
lence and for tha t reason it would be F;ngland (14). During the later 18th and
natural enough for the natives to refer to it 19th Centuries mahogany had a dominant
by means of a generic term" is likewise place in the London and Liverpool hardwood
based on untenable linguistic evidence. lumber markets (7) .
In primitive as well as in culturally ad- Among English and Americ11n lumber
vanced languages when an object with excel- merchants, ship builders, furniture manu-
lent or superior qualities is named, a dis- facturers and dealers, architects and a ntique
tinct or specific na me is adopted, not a furniture dealers, the wood mahogany
generic term . The word diamond is not ( Swietenia spp.) has been, since as early as
applied to ,inst any hard shiny rock, nor is 1700, and still is regarded as a standard of
excellence, as has heen amply pointed out
1 4 Washington Sq uare Villa g e, New York, (5, 15).
N . Y . 10012. "West Indies mahogany, used throu ghout
R0~Piwd for pnhlicntion April 8, 1966. the West Indies for construction, furniture,
84
LAM B : MAHOGANY 85
interior trim, from Spanish colonial times to democratic-the majority rules. Thus,
the present has a better service record in the Malone's (10) interpretation of his data and
Caribbean area for r esistance to destructive his statement that "In sum, there can be
agencies than any other wood or construc- little doubt that mahogany was a generic
tion material" (17) . term in origin and no doubt at all that it has
Ca.tesby (1) and J acquin (4, p.41) estab- been a generic term throughout its recorded
lish ed b eyond question the rel ationship b e- history in the English langu age" are a com-
tween the tree species and the wood. The plete misinterpretation of the facts. Learned
K ew B ulletin of Miscellaneous Information ( 8), in commenting on Malone's definition of
for 1937 mentions that the question has been mahogany (9) says, " . . . we have here no
r aised as to the exact significance of .the definition at all, to say nothing of a 'generic'
words "true" and "false" used to modify the use that is to be defined .. .. "
word mahogany. "True mahogany is restrict- Malone (9, pp.313, 317), basing his biased
ed t o the species of Swietenia on botanical position on a false premise taken from
and historical grounds. It is evident that in Mell's "Biography of the Word Mahogany"
1850 both to botanists and to lumber mer- (12), tries to present evidence to justify his
chants the name mahogany meant the wood p osition, an endeavor which is singularly
of a species of Swietenia." unsuccessful. As Learned (8) says, " . . .
The public understanding of the meaning dictionary . . . may with justification over-
of the word mahogany has followed that of look confusion common in ignoran t usage, as
the users of this wood since they introduced well as the morals of merchandising. . . ."
it to the public. If it had ever been used as a But Malone as a linguist will find it hard to
generic term, either linguistically or histori- justify taking this p osition. He becomes, per-
cally, mahogany would never have become a haps unwittingly, a .victim, as did Mell, of
term denoting a standard of excellence in the the blatant and concentrated effort to sub-
markets for fine hardwoods. vert the name mahogany for commercial
The meaning of the term mahogany is advantage.
established by usage, as pointed out by ECONOMIC BOTANY records that Malone's
Malone, although he ignores or misinterprets "Notes on the Word Mahogany" was re-
the bulk of the evidence. H e states that 70% ceived for publication on March 23, 1964.
of his 1,500 quotations of current usage of However, an almost identical version under
the name mahogany were without a qualify- the same title and authorship was presented
ing adj ective. Learned ( 8), in his critique of four months earlier on November 5, 1963, in
Malone's first article on mahogany (9), says, mimeographed form by the president of the
"Any extension of the name mahogany to Philippine Mahogany Association, at public
substitutes or imitations should, in honest hearings of the House Committee on For-
practice, include some descriptive word or eign and Domestic Commerce on Mahogany
phrase as a caveat emptor." Bill H.R. 6210 in Washington, D.C. This
Mell (11) , 20 years before he became raises the point whether linguistic or com-
inv·olved in the legal aspects of the name mercial considerations had a priority in the
controversy, stated, "True mahogany . . . preparation of this material.
stands in a class by itself and all other Malone (10) , in trying to cast doubt on
woods palmed off on the public as such are the origin of the word mahogany in the
substitutes. . . . The deliberate substitution Yoruba word 'oganwo' and the connotations
of various woods for mahogany is no less a of meaning presented by Lamb ( 6), falls
fraud ...." Therefore, an honest interpreta- prey to what Greenberg (3) refers to as
tion of 70 % of Malone's 1,500 quotations, if "ad hoc gener alizations, often tautological,
he has described them correctly, can refer adduced to explain some specific linguistic
only to the standard of excellence, mahogany fact without r egard .to ... descriptive and
of Swietenia spp. The few remaining scat- historical context."
tered r eferences to mahogany presented as To bring rational logic to the notorious
being other than Swietenia cannot rule in mahogany name controversy at this late date
this case. These are peripheral phenomena. requires an unbiased analysis of the facts
As Malone himself states, our language is surrounding the origin, history and present
86 lcCONOMIC BOTANY
use of the word. Malone with his apparent 8. L earn ed, H. D. 1941. 'l'he definition of ma-
fixation on trying to establish generic use of hogany. Language 17: 256-257.
specific wood names obviously 1s not 9. Ma lone, K. 1940. On defining mahogany.
qualified to undertake such a task. Language 16: 308-318.
10. - - -. 1965. Notes on the word mahogany.
Econ. Bot. 19: 286-292.
Literature Cited 11. Mell, C. D. 1910. True and spurious ma-
1. Catesby, M. 1754. Natural History of hogany. Hardwood Record 3: 31- 32.
Oarolina, Florida and the Bahama Is- 12. - - -. 1930. Biogrnphy of the word ma -
lands. Vol. 2, p. 81. hoga ny. Timberman 31 (Oct.): 146- 15 2 ;
2. Craton, M. 1962. A History of the Ba- -32 (Nov. ) : 180- 184; 32 (D ec.) : 113-
hamas. London. 320 pp. 115.
3. Greenberg, J. H. 1963. Essays in Linguis- 13. Oviedo y Valdes, G. F . de 1535. Historia
tics. Chicago: University of Chicago General de las Indias. Sevilla : Juan
Press. First Phoenix Edition. 108 pp. Cromberg. Libro nono capitolo 9. p. 89.
4. Jacquin, N. J. von. 1760. E1mrneratio 14. Pay,son, W. F. (ed.) 1926. Mahogany-
Systematica Plantarum quas in in sulis antique and modern. New York: 154 pp.
Caribasis. Lugduni Batavorum: T. Haak. 15. Record, S . J. 1941. American timbers of
5. Kukachka, B. F. 1961. Mahogany: Swie- th e mahogany family. Tropical Woods
tenia macrophylla King. Meliaceae. Mad- 1941 (66): 19.
ison: For. Prod. Lab. Rep. No. 2167. 16. Swabey, C. 1939. Forestry in Jamaica.
6. Lamb, F. B. 1963. On further defining Oa ribbean Forester 1: 5- 6.
mahogany. Econ. Bot. 19: 217-232. 17. Wolcott, G. F. 1940. The entomologist
7. Latham, B. 1957. Timber: Historical sm- looks a t ma ga. Caribbean Forester I:
vey. London. 303 pp. 29- 30.
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