[Sca-cooks] Earth Apples?

[Terry Decker]

The detail of the stems is wrong for melon.  Melons have round stems as do 
gourds.  New World squash have grooved stems.

As for the Latin, the language was fixed before New World squashes arrived 
in the Old World and it was never very specific about precise identification 
(Pliny lumped melons and cucumbers together and Platina refers to oranges as 
citrons).  Expanding the definition of a Latin word to include new things 
occurred.  Therefore, I think I'll stand by the interpretation of squash.

As for Gerard, he wasn't speaking German.  He was using common regional 
English names.  Common names are given to change and to refer to different 
things in different regions.  Erdapfel now refers to the white potato.

Bear

>I believe that those are melons in the picture. Probably related to the
> cantaloupe.
> As for melopepon, I have seen it referred to as musk melon. Melo = melon 
> and
> pepon = apple. In Gerard,"...or melopepon: by reason that pepo hath the
> smell of an apple, whereto the smell of this fruit is like; having withall
> the smell as it were of Muske:which for that cause are also named Melones
> Muschatellini, or Muske Melons."
> So if Erdapfel = melopopon, then you are probably looking at musk melons 
> and
> not winter squash.
>
> In Gerard, sowbread and birthwort are  referred to as Apples of the earth.
>
> Lyse
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Check out Campi's the Fruit Seller.  There is a dark green pumpkin-like
> squash with orange flesh that is probably related to acorn squash or might
> be one of the "Japanese pumpkins."  A detailed examination of that part of
> the painting shows a stem that appears to be deeply grooved, indicative of
> a New World cucurbit.  The painting is about 1595, give or take a few 
> years.
>
> Bear
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sca-cooks mailing list
> Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks
>