The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

344 XVII.vii.15–vii.25 Isidore of Seville
15. Thepear (pirus) seems to be called that because
its fruit is oddly shaped in the likeness of fire (cf. ,
“fire”), for this kind of fruit is wide at the base and narrows
at the top, like a tongue of fire. The tree is pirus,but
the fruit is pira.Thereare many species of pears, of which
Crustumian are partly red, named for the town Crustumium.
Pears are said to be extremely burdensome when
carried by pack-animals, even if there are only a few. 16.
The cherry (cerasus)isnamedfromthe city Cerasum in
Pontus (i.e. the Black Sea), for when Lucullus destroyed
the Pontic city Cerasum he imported this kind of fruit
from there and named it cerasium from the city’s name.
The tree is called cerasus,thefruit cerasium.BeforeLucullus
these were in Italy, but only a hard variety, and hence
it was also called the cornel-cherry (cornus; cf. cornu,
“(hard) horn”). The wood of the tree is good for spears;
hence Vergil (Geo. 2.448):
The cornel-cherry (cornus) good for war.
17. Thefig(ficus) isso-named in Latin for its fecundity
(fecunditas), for it is more fruitful than the other
trees. It produces fruit three and four times in a single
year, and while one crop ripens another begins to
grow. Likewise the carica (i.e. a dry fig) is also named
from its abundance. 10 The Egyptianfigissaidtobemore
fecund. When wood from it is placed in water it immediately
sinks, and after it has lain for some time in the
mud it rises to the surface, contrary to what is natural
–whensoakeditought to stay down with the weight of
the moisture. Formerly athletes would be fed figs, before
the trainer Pythagoras switched them to the use of meat,
which is a more substantial food. It is said that figs, eaten
by the elderly fairly often in their diet, smooth away their
wrinkles. They also say that very ferocious bulls, tethered
to afigtree, suddenly become tame.
18.Thewild fig (caprificus)issocalled because it tears
at (carpere; cf. also , “fruit”) the walls in which
it grows up, for it bursts forth and grows out from the
hidden spots in which it is germinated. Others think
this tree is called caprificus because with its assistance
the fig (ficus) tree ismade fruitful. 11 19. Themulberry
tree (morus, also meaning “blackberry”) is so named
by the Greeks (i.e. , “mulberry, blackberry”), and
Latin speakers call it the rubus (lit. “blackberry bush”)
because its fruit or foliage is red (rubere). There is also
awoodlandmulberry (mora), bearing fruit that relieves
the hunger and need of shepherds in the wilderness.
It is said that its leaves, when thrown onto a serpent,
destroy it.
20. The‘sycamore fig’ (sycomorus), along with the
mulberry (morus), have Greek names (i.e. ,
). It is called sycomorus (cf. , “fig”) because
its leaves are like the morus. Latin speakers call this
the ‘lofty’ (celsus) figbecause of its height, for it is
not short like the mulberry. 21. Thewalnut (nux) is
so called because its shade or drippings from its leaves
harm (nocere)neighboringtrees. Latin speakers call it by
another name, iuglans, asifitwere‘Jupiter’snut’(Iovis
glans), for this tree was consecrated to Jupiter. Its fruit
has so much virtue that, when it is mingled with suspicious
food containing herbs or mushrooms, it drives
out, seizes, and destroys whatever is poisonous in it.
22. All fruits covered with a rather hard shell are generically
called ‘nuts’ (nux), as pine nuts (pinea), filberts,
acorns (glans), chestnuts, almonds. The kernel (nucleus)
is also named from nux,because it is covered with a hard
shell. On the other hand every soft fruit is called malum,
but this term is modified by the names of the regions
in which they originated, as Persian, Punic, Matian,
Cydonian, and so forth.
23. Almond (amygdala) is a Greek name (i.e.
), which in Latin is called ‘long nut.’ Others
call it nucicla,asifitwere “the little nut.” Concerning it,
Vergil (Geo. 1.187):
When many a nut tree (nux) inthe woods clothes itself
in flowers.
For among all the trees it first clothes itself in flower, and
bears fruit before the other trees. 24. Filberts(abellana)
are given their name from Abella, a town in Campania,
where they are abundant. These are called Pontic
nuts by the Greeks, because they are abundant around
the Pontic (i.e. Black) Sea. 25. Latin speakers name the
chestnut (castanea) fromaGreekterm, for the Greeks
call it ,because its paired fruits are hidden in a
small sack like testicles, and when they are ejected from
it, it is as if they were castrated (castrare). As soon as
this tree is cut down, it commonly sprouts again like a
forest.
10 That is, the Carica fig is abundant in the province of Caria in
Asia Minor, whence its name.
11 Pliny explains that “caprification” is the attachment to cultivated
fig trees of wild figs, from which gall insects emerge and pollinate
the flowers.