> wrote:

> A friend of mine insists that Yogurt was invented and named in the
> 1960s by someone into yoga, and it was named after yoga.
>
> I say that Yogurt existed before the 1960s and has nothing to do with
> yoga at all.
>
> Who is correct?

Yoghurt is a very ancient word of Turkic origin. It derives from a verb
meaning "to thicken", to curdle". It is also known under other names,
some of them also of Turkic origin. For example, 'katyk', 'katuk' and
its variations are widely used in Central Asia. In Armenian, yoghurt is
called 'matsun', the word coming from the verb 'matsutsel', which also
means 'to thicken, to curdle'. In Georgian, it is called 'matsoni' and
in Farsi, 'mast', AFAIK. Any of these words may well be even more
ancient than "yoghurt" and the actual product may be more ancient still.

Victor