Samp
/sæmp/noun
A coarse meal or porridge made from ground corn, historically associated with Indigenous North American cuisine.
Did you know?English colonists adopted “samp” from Narragansett, one of many food words that entered English through early contact in North America.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact period
Narragansett
nasàump
“A softened or boiled corn preparation; the precise internal analysis is uncertain.”
17th Century
Narragansett–English contact
samp
“A Native American corn dish encountered and named in colonial English contexts.”
1643
English
samp
“A corn-based food recorded in descriptions of New England life.”
18th Century
English
samp
“Coarsely ground corn or a porridge made from it.”
Modern English
English
samp
“A regional or historical term for coarse cornmeal or corn porridge.”