History The name mahogany was initially associated only with those islands in the West Indies under British control (French colonists used the term acajou, while in the Spanish territories it was called caoba). The origin of the name is uncertain, but it could be a corruption of 'm'oganwo', the name used by the Yoruba and Ibo people of West Africa to describe trees of the genus Khaya, which is closely related to Swietenia. When transported to Jamaica as slaves, they gave the same name to the similar trees they saw there.F. Bruce Lamb, 'On Further defining Mahogany', Economic Botany, 17 (1963), pp. 217-239. Though this interpretation has been disputed, no one has suggested a more plausible origin.Kemp Malone, 'Notes on the Word Mahogany', Economic Botany, 19 (1965), pp. 286-292. The indigenous Arawak name for the tree is not known. In 1671 the word mahogany appeared in print for the first time, in John Ogilby's America.John Ogilby, America, Being the Latest and Most Accurate Description of the New World, London (1671). Among botanists and naturalists, however, the tree was considered a type of cedar, and in 1759 was classified by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) as Cedrela mahagoni. The following year it was assigned to a new genus by Nicholas Joseph Jacquin (1727–1817), and named Swietenia mahagoni.
History The name mahogany was initially associated only with those islands in the West Indies under British control (French colonists used the term acajou, while in the Spanish territories it was called caoba). The origin of the name is uncertain, but it could be a corruption of 'm'oganwo', the name used by the Yoruba and Ibo people of West Africa to describe trees of the genus Khaya, which is closely related to Swietenia. When transported to Jamaica as slaves, they gave the same name to the similar trees they saw there.F. Bruce Lamb, 'On Further defining Mahogany', Economic Botany, 17 (1963), pp. 217-239. Though this interpretation has been disputed, no one has suggested a more plausible origin.Kemp Malone, 'Notes on the Word Mahogany', Economic Botany, 19 (1965), pp. 286-292. The indigenous Arawak name for the tree is not known. In 1671 the word mahogany appeared in print for the first time, in John Ogilby's America.John Ogilby, America, Being the Latest and Most Accurate Description of the New World, London (1671). Among botanists and naturalists, however, the tree was considered a type of cedar, and in 1759 was classified by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) as Cedrela mahagoni. The following year it was assigned to a :new genus by Nicholas Joseph Jacquin (1727–1817), and named Swietenia mahagoni.