ETYMOLOGY 101
The origin of: smorgasbord
A smorgasbord is a large quantity of variegated food, typical of many a Thanksgiving feast. The word comes from the Swedish smörgåsbord, which literally means “bread and butter table” (from smorgas “open-faced sandwich” + bord “board” or table). A smorgasbord is a traditional Swedish feast consisting of hot and cold meats, smoked and pickled fish, meatballs, eggs, salads, and cheeses. The large quantity of food originates from large country gatherings where many people brought a single dish and arranged them on long tables. Typically, cold dishes are consumed first, followed by hot dishes and—occasionally—desserts. The word became popular in this country only recently, when 1940s diners would advertise “all you can eat” smorgasbords for a pittance. Today, the word also means “a hodgepodge” or heterogeneous mixture.


The origin of: turkey
“The large, ungainly bird that is known scientifically as the Meleagris gallopavo was first domesticated by the Aztecs, Mayas, and other civilized Indian tribes of Mexico and Central America. At the time of their conquest of the New World, the Spanish began exporting the domesticated fowl to the Old World.” The fowl was first introduced into the lands bordering the Mediterranean early in the 16th century, and was subsequently domesticated throughout northern Europe and England.
        “From the beginning, the New World fowl was confused with a bird of African origin that had been known to the Mediterranean peoples since ancient times. This Old World bird was commonly known as the guinea fowl (also guinea cock) or turkey-cock. The name guinea fowl derived from the fact that it was sometimes exported from Guinea on the west coast of Africa by the Portuguese. The name turkey-cock derived from the fact that the fowl had been originally imported to Europe from territory that the Europeans thought of as Turkish. Turkey, to the Europeans of the sixteenth century, could refer to the whole of the Ottoman Empire, or to any or all various lands under Islamic domina-tion. To Europeans of that period, Turkey suggested all that was mysterious, exotic, or merely novel. Thus, ‘Turkey’ was the actual or assumed point of origin for all manner of exotica.” It was only natural, then, that turkey-cock should become attached to those recently intro-duced birds that resembled the well-known guinea fowl. “Even after the New World bird ceased to be confused with its African cousin, the mis-nomer turkey-cock stuck.” In time, turkey-cock was shortened to turkey.
        The first American colonists feasted on specimens of the once native wild turkey population; however, before long they were importing the domesticated European version of the turkey back to its native continent. Modern day turkeys are from this European stock, and are so renowned for their stupidity (inherited from years of farmyard breeding) that turkey is sometimes used today to refer to someone or something that is a complete failure.

Source: The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories.