The Latin Neuter Plurals in Romance - Page ON

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cerezal ‘cherry orchard’, castañ-al/-ar ‘chestnut grove’.) In the case of the
‘apple’, the standard word is manzana (earlier ma(n)çana, Moz. massana, Ast.
mazana) from POMA MAT(T)IANA ‘apples of Matius’, and the name of the tree
is manzano (cf. also manzanilla and manzanillo). Pomo and poma are both in
use, the first meaning ‘pome’, ‘pommel’, ‘pomander’, the second formerly (as
in the Alex.) and still dialectally ‘apple’, otherwise ‘pomander’. (The range of
meaning may partly have been taken from Catalan.) MELU on the other hand,
is only preserved in compounds. Firstly we have old milgrano, as in Berceo,
Mil., 4b, and also melgrano, mingrano, malgranado, recalling It. melograno,
melo granato, to which Menéndez Pidal (§72.5a) also quotes parallel forms
milgrana, mingrana, and the DCELC melgrana, manglana, malgranada (Mil.,
39a). Then there is membrillo ‘quince’ (Moz. melmelo, Ast. marmiellu) from
MELIMELU, for both tree and fruit; there is also a fem. membrilla for a variety
of quince. Finally we have learnèd melocotón, now the generic word for
‘peach’, originally meaning a peach grafted on to a quince and based on MELU
COTONEU. For ‘pear’ Spanish has pera, but there is also pero for a ‘pearmain
apple’ (both fruit and tree), further supporting my derivation of OFr. permain
(compare Catalan and see Portuguese below; peros is found in Mil., 4b,
contrasted with mazanedas). The standard word for ‘plum’ is ciruela (Moz.
chirola), from PRUNA CEREOLA, with ciruelo as the name of the tree, but
pruna is also found on the edge of Catalan-speaking territory, and in some
dialects pruno is used for the fruit as well as for the tree (Men. Pid., §77.2; cf.
Benasque prun above). In Asturian there is a parallel form (a)bruno or abruño
for a ‘small black plum’ (sloe? – cf. OIt. brugna, Ptg. (a)brunho) or its tree,
with a similar bruñola given in the REW (cf. Friul. bruñul). For the ‘sloe’ the
standard word is endrina (also introduced into Galician), with endrino for the
‘blackthorn’ tree; the older forms are andrina, andrino, as in Asturian (cf. It.
(a)trigno, (a)trigna, from Latin *ATRINU), and these have also spread to