SC - Tomatoes

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

- -----Original Message-----
From: snowfire at mail.snet.net <snowfire at mail.snet.net>
To: sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG <sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG>
Date: 18. apríl 1999 14:39
Subject: Re: SC - Tomatoes


>
>I'm wondering then, if they called so many things apples, if the word
>"apple" or it's equivalent in other languages originally had a broader
>meaning like "round edible thing that is probably a vegetable" or
>something?


You are correct there. Most southern European languages do not, or did not
originally at least, distinguish clearly between "apple" and "fruit". Melon
in ancient Greek meant both apple and fruit. The Latin word pomum (the
source of the French word "pomme") also could mean apple or fruit.
Pomegranate, for instance, literally means "apple with many seeds" and in
the Scandinavian languages it is still called grenate apple (granatepli in
Icelandic). The German name for an orange literally means "apple from China"
(Apfelsine) and this has been carried over into the Scandinavian languages
also.

And in Iceland, where no fruits grew and none were imported, either, any
fruit was liable to be called apple - it was probably the only fruit most
people had even heard of but few had ever seen.

Nanna

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