Pineapples first grew on pine trees
Toolbox
Knight Ridder Service - Published: January 22, 2006
Q: Pineapples resemble pine cones. So why do we call them "pineapples" and not "pine cones" or "pinecone fruit" or something? They don't look like apples so I don't understand how "apple" ended up in the word "pineapple." — H.S., Detroit
A: It seems logical that pineapples should have been named after pine cones. In fact, at one time, pine cones and pineapples were called by the same name. The surprising thing is that the name they shared was "pineapple," not "pine cone." Yes, there is evidence dating back to around the year 1400 showing Middle English speakers using the word "pineapple" for what we call a pine cone and for ornaments or decorations made to resemble pine cones. Meanwhile, the term "pine cone" did not show up in English until the late 1600s.
This nicely explains why people adopted the name "pineapple" for the tropical fruit — it reminded them of the things that grow on pine trees and that they called "pineapples." It does not explain, however, what apples have to do with either pine cones or pineapples. Why would people use the name "pineapple" to refer to pine cones in the first place? Pine cones don't look like apples any more than pineapples do.
The answer lies in the history of the word "apple." We know that since the days of Old English people were using "apple" for the kind of fruit we call apples today. But they were also using "apple" for other fruits and plant growths, both those that resembled apples and those that didn't. We see evidence of these generalized senses of "apple" not only in "pineapple" but also in less common terms like "oak apple" (a round gall produced on oak leaves and twigs by a gall wasp), "earth apple" (a potato or Jerusalem artichoke) and "cashew apple" (the pear-shaped edible receptacle on which the cashew nut is borne).
So while "pineapple" is not as obviously descriptive as, say, "blueberry" and "star fruit" are today, back when English speakers were first encountering a tropical fruit new to them, the name "pineapple" was a perfectly fitting choice.
Q: Where does the word "varsity" for a school sports team come from? — K.L., Marina, Calif.
A: "Varsity" was formed by shortening and altering the longer word "university." It first appeared in British English as long ago as the mid-1600s to mean "university." In the mid-1800s, it took on an association with athletics, and it is now used in connection with university or college teams and sports.
This process of shortening and altering has created many words in English for which the original source no longer comes to mind. "Dub," for example, meaning "to add sound effects or dialogue to a film or broadcast," was created by shortening and altering the longer word "double." "Fax" is a more recent example of this type of word formation; it is a shorter version of "facsimile."
(This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Readers may send questions to Merriam-Webster's Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, MA 01102.)
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