[lit-ideas] Re: Pomegranate
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 12:58:13 EDT
Ritchie wonders about 'apple-shaped', 'pear-shaped', etc:
>Isn't it odd there's so much soft fruit involved
>here: pomegranate, kiwi, limey! Among persons,
>hardness is all, I suppose.
Right. And then, there's 'tangerine'.
Oddly, 'tangerine' originally meant 'a native of Tangier' -- and it's only
derivately used for the fruit. A case of reverse etymythology, or something
like that (cf. 'argentine').
Cheers,
JL
---
From the OED
'tangerine'.
[f. Tanger, Tangier + _-INE1_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=tangerine&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_sh
ow=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefed=OED&xrefword=-ine&homonym_no=1) .]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to, or native of Tangier, a seaport in Morocco, on
the Strait of Gibraltar. Tangerine orange, a small flattened deep-coloured
variety of orange orig. from Tangier, Citrus nobilis var. Tangeriana.
1710 ADDISON Tatler No. 250 3
An old Tangereen Captain with a Wooden Leg.
1841 TILLERY in Gard. Chron. 781
The Tangerine Orange.I beg to draw attention to the cultivation of this as
a fruit for the dessert.
1882 Garden 18 Feb. 122/2 Two dishes of Tangerine Oranges.
B. n.
1. A native of Tangier.
1860 All Year Round No. 71. 491 Winterfield was sold to a Tangarene.
2. Now with lower-case initial. a. A Tangerine orange: see A.
1842 Gard. Chron. 6 The Tangerine I suspect to be only a variety of it [the
Mandarin Orange]. 1891 Daily News 26 Dec. 5/4 There is an unusually good
supply of tangerines. 1908 R. W. CHAMBERS Firing Line vi, Please get me a few
Please gthose blood-tangerines up there.
b. A deep orange colour; also attrib. and Comb., as tangerine-coloured adj.
1899 Daily News 16 Sept. 7/3 Ruddy pink and tender amethyst, tangerine,
orange, mist-grey [etc.]. 1904 Ibid. 6 Oct. 8/4 Taking as the colour key-note,
the fashionable tangerine shade. 1977 M. KENYON Rapist iii. 31 Shovelling
sugar into his tangerine-coloured tea.
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/entry_main/00246743?query_type=word&queryword=tangerine&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sor
t_type=alpha&case_id=dl0x-KCCgiQ-4226#top)
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