"Goober" meaning
peanut is probably derived from the plant's name in some
African language, "nguba." (Various sources are saying the source language is
Kikongo,
Kimbundu, or something else in the
Bantu group to which both of the former belong;
Gritchka says the word is likely the same or similar in both of those two.) The word was brought over by the people brought as
slaves and became common in
the South.