Is there a specific grammatical term for things like almond milk or peanut butter?
I hear a lot of public figures and people online trying to insist that plant-based milks can't be called milks, because they aren't secreted from mammary glands of animals, despite the heavy historical use of "milk" in this context.
According to Etymology Online, "In English, the word "milk" has been used to refer to "milk-like plant juices" since 1200 CE." "Almond milk" as a compound noun appeared in the 14th century, as it was used by the rich as a dairy alternative during fasting periods. Various historical dictionaries have used milk in a plant-based context: Samuel Johnson In his landmark A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) put plant milks as a secondary definition of milk, describing them as "emulsion made by contusion of seeds." Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) did the same.
This isn't just a musing, I feel this is quite relevant to global order. Last year, the European Parliament voted to ban plant-based food companies for using terms like "meat" "chicken," or "drumstick" for their products. They almost got to" burgers" and "sausages", but these terms managed to escape censorship. The meat, dairy, and egg industries, and farmers, claim that such labels threaten farmers' livelihoods by blurring the distinction between animal-derived and plant-based products, making customers "confused."
It's obviously just a tactic to weaken market competitors and the "GrEeN, vEgAn AgEnDa." It's just really concerning that governments are trying to police language in this way...
We already use the terms "coconut milk", or calling a peanut paste "peanut butter", when it isn't a butter, and this, in contrast to "plant milks" or "plant-based drumsticks" is seen as acceptable. Just so that I can correct the internet troglodytes, what's the specific grammatical term for this kind of thing?