FWIW online etymologies seem to suggest this description isn't totally off, but I agree the bit about it not having a history is transparently wrong.
Etymonline[1]:
> kind of sauce or relish much used in Indian cookery, from the leaves of a southwest Asian plant related to the lemon, 1680s, from Tamil (Dravidian) kari "sauce, relish for rice," also "a bite, bit, morsel." As "meat or vegetable stew flavored with curry powder," 1747 in British English.
This one implies that கறி can refer to the spice in a dish as well as the dish as a whole--seems likely. That is, for instance, how "masala"[2] works in Hindi, which literally means 'spices' but can help form the name of an entire dish, as in "paneer masala".
Wiktionary[3]:
> 1747 (as currey, first published recipe for the dish in English[1][2]), from Tamil கறி (kaṟi), influenced by existing Middle English cury (“cooking”),[2] from French cuire (“to cook”) (from which also cuisine), from Vulgar Latin cocere, from Latin coquere, present active infinitive of coquō.
> Earlier cury found in 1390 cookbook Forme of Cury (Forms of Cooking) by court chefs of Richard II of England.
To be clear: what happened here is that English already had a word "curry" (this is the one we get in the expression "curry favor"), and it encountered and incorporated the Tamil word which coincidentally had an identical pronunciation and a very related meaning.
> To be clear: what happened here is that English already had a word "curry" (this is the one we get in the expression "curry favor"), and it encountered and incorporated the Tamil word which coincidentally had an identical pronunciation and a very related meaning.
It would be a good candidate to look into the origins of further, perhaps there is a proto-indio-european link and it's not a coincidence.
Interesting that a synonym for கறி is தேய் which google-tamil translates as either curry or chafe the later meaning to warm by rubbing which then may be an attempt to curry favor with someone :)
If you curry a horse, you are (generally) not cooking it but brushing it with a curry comb (the chafe or rubbing meaning). This would be where 'currying favor' comes from, since horses tend to like being curried.
If Google Translate is machine learned for Tamil->English, I suspect it is just confused.
Etymonline[1]:
> kind of sauce or relish much used in Indian cookery, from the leaves of a southwest Asian plant related to the lemon, 1680s, from Tamil (Dravidian) kari "sauce, relish for rice," also "a bite, bit, morsel." As "meat or vegetable stew flavored with curry powder," 1747 in British English.
This one implies that கறி can refer to the spice in a dish as well as the dish as a whole--seems likely. That is, for instance, how "masala"[2] works in Hindi, which literally means 'spices' but can help form the name of an entire dish, as in "paneer masala".
Wiktionary[3]:
> 1747 (as currey, first published recipe for the dish in English[1][2]), from Tamil கறி (kaṟi), influenced by existing Middle English cury (“cooking”),[2] from French cuire (“to cook”) (from which also cuisine), from Vulgar Latin cocere, from Latin coquere, present active infinitive of coquō.
> Earlier cury found in 1390 cookbook Forme of Cury (Forms of Cooking) by court chefs of Richard II of England.
To be clear: what happened here is that English already had a word "curry" (this is the one we get in the expression "curry favor"), and it encountered and incorporated the Tamil word which coincidentally had an identical pronunciation and a very related meaning.
[1]: https://www.etymonline.com/word/curry#etymonline_v_491
[2]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%BE%E...
[3]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/curry#Etymology_1