238 Oranges and Lemons of India. 



it has come into European languages through the 

 Arabic leimiin" 



Rumphius, under Limo tuberosus martinicus, says : 

 " As these kinds of fruit were not accurately described 

 by the old authors ; they were given the general name 

 of Mali Citrii, Medici, or Hesperici ; in subsequent 

 times, however, their species were more carefully 

 studied, and one was called in Latin Limonium ; 

 and in Pharmacopoeias Limonem, ... In vain may 

 any one search for the derivation of this name in 

 European languages. The Arabic word is leytun ; 

 the Persian limum" 



Mr. Gubboy informed me that the common Arabic 

 name for lemon is lumi. This very name is still 

 retained in Malta for the lemon. Risso gives a whole 

 section under the name of Lumia, and according to 

 De Candolle, " an author named Falcando mentions 

 in 1260 some very acid lumias, which were cultivated 

 near Palermo." Now the word limum could very 

 easily be corrupted, by transposition of the vowels, 

 into lumi. But Colonel Yule gives leimun also as 

 the Arabic word. The lemon is not indigenous in 



o 



Arabia. Where, then, did they get both the fruit and 

 its name ? 



I think Rumphius gives us the solution of this 

 puzzle in his Flor. Amboin. Under Limo tuberosus 

 maritinicus he says, "It should certainly be noted 

 that all the species of lemon (it should be remembered 

 that by "lemons" Rumphius means all kinds of citrus] 

 are called by the Malays, by the general term of 

 lemoen, while in Europe this name is given only to 

 one species. This tree (Limo tuberosus] moreover is 

 called Lemo martin by the Malays. How it got this 

 name, however, is quite unknown to me, but it seems 

 likely that it may have first come into notice through 



