Plum - Etymology and Names

Etymology and Names

The fruit Prunus armeniaca gained its name from the beliefs of Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian and scientist of the first century, who maintained the apricot was a kind of a plum, and had originally come from Armenia. Armenian sources support their claims by referring to a 6,000-year-old apricot pit found in an archaeological site near Yerevan. Other historians point to Mesopotamia as a clue to the Latin name. Apricots were cultivated in Mesopotamia, and it was known as armanu in the Akkadian language, but this did not refer to Armenia as that is not the name by which that geographic region was known in the Akkadian language. It is likely that Pliny's explanation is a folk etymology based on the similarity between the Mesopotamian name for the fruit and the Latin name for Armenia.

In certain parts of the world, some fruits are called plums and are quite different from fruits known as plums in Europe or the Americas. For example, marian plums are popular in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, otherwise also known as gandaria, plum mango, ma-praang, ma-yong, ramania, kundang, rembunia or setar. Another example is the Japanese plum, popular as pipa or Chinese plums in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and as Japanese medlar, loquat, nispero, bibassier and wollmispel elsewhere. In South Asia and Southeast Asia, Jambul - a fruit from tropical tree in Myrtaceae family, is similarly sometimes referred to 'damson plums', and it is different than damson plums found in Europe and Americas. Jambul is also called as Java plum, Malabar plum, jaman, jamun, jamblang, jiwat, salam, duhat, koeli, jambuláo or koriang.