Names and Etymology
The word Diospyros comes from the ancient Greek words "Dios" (διός) and "pyros" (πυρος). In context this means more or less "divine fruit", though its literal meaning is more like "Wheat of Zeus". It is however sufficiently confusing to have given rise to some curious interpretations such as "God's pear" and "Jove's fire".
The word persimmon itself is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Powhatan, an Algonquian language of the eastern United States, meaning "a dry fruit".
Read more about this topic: Gotgam
Famous quotes containing the words names and/or etymology:
“If marriages were made by putting all the men’s names into one sack and the women’s names into another, and having them taken out by a blindfolded child like lottery numbers, there would be just as high a percentage of happy marriages as we have here in England.... If you can tell me of any trustworthy method of selecting a wife, I shall be happy to make use of it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)