Several words that are unique to the Menorqui language derive from English. Grevi is gravy, bifi is beef and plumqueque is presumably the cake the British rulers had for afternoon tea.
The British influence also lingers on in the bow and sash windows of some of the elegant Georgian houses in Mahon.
Mahon is the birthplace of mayonnaise. The word was invented by the amorous French Duke of Richelieu, who used it as an aphrodisiac. Mahonesa translates as ‘a girl from Mahon’.
To the Greeks, Menorca was Meloussa, meaning Island of Cattle, to the Phoenicians it was Nura, or Island of Fire. Its present name - meaning ‘little one’ as opposed to Majorca, the ‘big one’ - dates from Roman times.
Some people maintain that Golden Farm to the north of Mahon is where Nelson hid out with his lady love Emma Hamilton. Others believe he spent his time here alone, writing "Sketches of My Life".