# Entomology of fruit and vegetable names

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 22, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871 "2005-09-22T13:12:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FlippyFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FlippyFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlippyFly)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871/1 "2005-09-22T13:12:09Z")

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Entomology of fruit and vegetable names

For reasons I can’t explain, the names for fruits and vegetables started to bug me yesterday. It all started with the Brussel Sprout. Is it from Brussels? Shouldn’t it be a Brussel’s sprout? It just went from there. Why is an apple an apple? Orange? Cantaloupe? Anyone know the entemologies of common fruit and vegetable names? My guess is that they are varied… apple, orange and pear don’t sound much like cantaloupe, zucchini, and pineapple. Egg plant made me wonder too… where is the egg?

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**Author:** ![cmurdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@cmurdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmurdough)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871/2 "2005-09-22T13:45:24Z")

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FYI: Etymology, not entomology.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871/3 "2005-09-22T13:51:58Z")

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Yes, the entomology of most fruits bug me.

As for the etymology, you might try using something called a “dictionary.” Here are a few:

Apple

> [@](#):
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> [common Teut.: with OE. æppel cf. OFris. appel, OHG. aphul, aphal, apfal, mod.G. apfel, all masc.; ON. pli (for apli), OSw. æpli, (Goth. unkn. ?apuls, pl. apuleis, masc., or apli, pl. aplja, neut.); cf. Lith. óblas, -is, Samogitian abolis, Lettish ahbols, OSl. jabl’ko, Russ. jablo-ko, Pol. jab-ko; also Irish abhal, ubhal, Welsh afal. The relation of these to the Teutonic, and the origin of the word are unknown (see Grimm I. 532-3); nor does it seem certain whether the general or special meaning is the earlier.]

Orange

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> [\< Anglo-Norman and Middle French orenge (c1393 in Middle French; earlier in Anglo-Norman in phrase pume orenge (c1200), 1314 in Old French in phrase pomme d’orenge: see note below), Middle French, French orange (1515 as noun in a translation from Italian (itself translating a Portuguese source), 1553 as adjective), ult. (prob., in spite of the chronology, via Italian arancio (c1309), arancia (a1336; also as narancia (1598 in Florio); Italian regional (Venice) naranza, Italian regional (Reggio Emilia) naranz, Italian regional (Milan) narans) \< Arabic nranj \< Persian nrang \< Sanskrit nraga \< a Dravidian language: cf. Tamil nram, Tulu nregi. Cf. also Persian nr \< anr pomegranate. Cf. Spanish naranja (late 14th cent.), Portuguese laranja (1377), Old Occitan arange (c1373), irange (1390), medieval Greek .

Cantaloupe

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> [a. F. cantaloup, ad. It. Cantalupo, the name of a former country seat of the Pope near Rome, where it is said, on its introduction from Armenia, to have been first cultivated.]

pear

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> [Orig. \< post-classical Latin pera (see below); subsequently reinforced by Anglo-Norman pere, peire (cf. Old French, Middle French, French poire (c1165)) \< post-classical Latin pera (6th cent.; also pira), alteration (prob. arising from reinterpretation of the neuter plural as feminine singular) of pirum pear, prob. related to ancient Greek pear (see APIOID n.);

zucchini

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> [a. It., pl. of zucchino (small) marrow, dim. of zucca gourd.]

pineapple

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> [f. PINE n.2 + APPLE n.]

Try [http://www.dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com) for others.

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**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871/4 "2005-09-22T13:59:27Z")

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> [@FlippyFly](#):
>
> Egg plant made me wonder too… where is the egg?

The vegetable is shaped like an egg.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871/5 "2005-09-22T17:14:49Z")

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It’s also white (originally, anyway). The purple ones came along later.

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**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871/6 "2005-09-22T18:34:08Z")

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You can sometimes see small white oval varieties of eggplant in asian markets along side the familiar large deep purple oval ones and the elongate light purple ones. The derivation of the eggplant name is clear…the first varieties ecountered were the small white oval ones that really do look like eggs.

Brussells sprouts were developed in Brussells.

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**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entomology-of-fruit-and-vegetable-names/322871/7 "2005-09-22T19:28:38Z")

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Even better (if you can find the word in it), the [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=apple&searchmode=none)

Something I learned : Though a compound of pine + apple, ‘pineapple’ was formerly the term for a pinecone. The fruit resembles a pinecone much more that a ‘piney apple’, doesn’t it?