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As an aside, tomatoes are golden apples (pomodoro), and oranges are Chinese apples (Apfelsin) in some languages. A lot of cultures appear to name botanicals us
by xattt 19d ago
As an aside, tomatoes are golden apples (pomodoro), and oranges are Chinese apples (Apfelsin) in some languages.
A lot of cultures appear to name botanicals using apples or, in GP’s context, stone fruit as “reference” points.
- snthpy 19d agoThank you for this. Knowing both those words, i could never work out the original/history of the terms.
- fsckboy 19d ago>A lot of cultures appear to name botanicals using apples don't know if it makes the point or upends it, but the fruit in the Garden of Eden wasn't specifically an apple.
- vladgur 19d agoWow, апельсин - apelsin(Russian) makes total sense now
- mlni 19d agoPotatoes are called "earth apples" in french (pomme de terre) and a bunch of other european languages
- YeGoblynQueenne 19d agoWait 'till you hear about melon - "μήλον" i.e. "apple" in Greek. Melon, watermelon, pomelo, etc. The ancient Greeks themselves started that with the "golden apples of the Hesperides" a.k.a. oranges. I guess any fruit people didn't know how to call was ... some kind of apple.
- Agentlien 19d agoEverything is an apple, it seems. You also have earth apples (pomme de terre in French, aardappel in Dutch) for potatoes, grenade apples (pomegranate in English, granatäpple in Swedish, ...), pineapple, ...
- xattt 19d agoIt helps that Latin has the word pomus for fruit.