From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Word History: Oranges imported to China from the United States reflect a journey come full circle, for the orange had worked its way westward for centuries, originating in China, then being introduced to India, and traveling on to the Middle East, into Europe, and finally to the New World. The history of the word orange keeps step with this journey only part of the way. The word is possibly ultimately from Dravidian, a family of languages spoken in southern India and northern Sri Lanka. The Dravidian word or words were adopted into the Indo-European language Sanskrit with the form nāraṅgaḥ. As the fruit passed westward, so did the word, as evidenced by Persian nārang and Arabic nāranj. Arabs brought the first oranges to Spain, and the fruit rapidly spread throughout Europe. The important word for the development of our term is Old Italian melarancio, derived from mela, “fruit,” and arancio, “orange tree,” from Arabic nāranj. Old Italian melarancio was translated into Old French as pume orange, the o replacing the a because of the influence of the name of the town of Orange, from which oranges reached the northern part of France. The final stage of the odyssey of the word was its borrowing into English from the Old French form orange. Our word is first recorded in Middle English in a text probably composed around 1380, a time preceding the arrival of the orange in the New World.
The Dutch House of Orange calls the fruit “sinaasappel” or Chinese apple, and the color is called “oranje”. They go back to about the 12th century, while the fruit took a bit longer to make it that far west.
pschearer Premium Member about 5 years ago
From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Word History: Oranges imported to China from the United States reflect a journey come full circle, for the orange had worked its way westward for centuries, originating in China, then being introduced to India, and traveling on to the Middle East, into Europe, and finally to the New World. The history of the word orange keeps step with this journey only part of the way. The word is possibly ultimately from Dravidian, a family of languages spoken in southern India and northern Sri Lanka. The Dravidian word or words were adopted into the Indo-European language Sanskrit with the form nāraṅgaḥ. As the fruit passed westward, so did the word, as evidenced by Persian nārang and Arabic nāranj. Arabs brought the first oranges to Spain, and the fruit rapidly spread throughout Europe. The important word for the development of our term is Old Italian melarancio, derived from mela, “fruit,” and arancio, “orange tree,” from Arabic nāranj. Old Italian melarancio was translated into Old French as pume orange, the o replacing the a because of the influence of the name of the town of Orange, from which oranges reached the northern part of France. The final stage of the odyssey of the word was its borrowing into English from the Old French form orange. Our word is first recorded in Middle English in a text probably composed around 1380, a time preceding the arrival of the orange in the New World.
Real Joel about 5 years ago
An excellent philosophical question. Certainly on a plane with “If a tree falls in the forest…”
Teto85 Premium Member about 5 years ago
Yes.
Alberta Oil Premium Member about 5 years ago
A good question.. which came first? The first orange (the fruit) I ever saw was kind of grey(ish) on a very staticy TV set.
cuzinron47 about 5 years ago
Another chicken or egg philosophical question.
Ray Helvy Premium Member about 5 years ago
The Dutch House of Orange calls the fruit “sinaasappel” or Chinese apple, and the color is called “oranje”. They go back to about the 12th century, while the fruit took a bit longer to make it that far west.