THEY SAl. 



565 



, Contribution to the Etymology of tlie Word 

 "Apricot." — The derivation of "apricot" from 

 " praecox " which you say (American Garden, May 

 1888, p. 208) is the accepted explanation, but not satis- 

 factory to you, seems to me not only rather far fetched 

 but etymologically incorrect. 



To make this plain, one has only to look at the 

 names of the fruit in modern languages. We have in 

 English "Apricot," in German " Apricose " and in 

 French "Apricot." These are evidently derived 

 from the same source. My purpose is to show that 

 the Latin had nothing to do with the English name 

 of the fruit. Of the three languages mentioned 

 above, French is unquestionably nearest to Latin, 

 English next and German furthest from it. It would 

 then follow that the word passed from Latin into 

 French and in the passage underwent an important 

 change, changing p into b ; this, too, in a prefix 

 very common in French (Latin " prae" French 

 " p)'e "). This looks suspicious, especially when one 

 considers how very particular the French are about 

 distinguishing b a'nd p. But the next step is still 

 more incredible. While French, the careful daughter 

 of Latin, failed to get the correct word from her 

 mother, German, the careless alien, gets the pure 

 article, notwithstanding the general indifference 

 shown by most Germans as to distinctions between 

 b and p, d and t, etc. This seems to me absurd. 

 Again " in those early times, say a couple of thou- 

 sand years ago," when the apricot is supposed to 

 have been called "Praecox" by the Romans, these 

 same Romans had a military post called Turicum 

 in Helvetia. To-day in the same place (Zurich, 

 Switzerland) the fruit is grown and known as "bar- 

 illa" (I give it as near as I can as it is sounded, for 

 the dialect spoken there is not written). 



Now if the fruit was known among the Romans 

 at that time "praecox" why did the inhabitants not 

 adopt the same name ? Why and where did they 

 get "barilla?" Since the fruit did not originate 

 there, but was probably introduced by the Romans, 

 it would seem that the people would naturally adopt 

 the name with the fruit. The only reason I can 

 give for the use by the natives of that neighborhood 

 of a name so very different from those used by their 

 neighbors, is that the Romans did not call the fruit 

 "praecox," but something similar to "barilla," as 

 evidenced by the Spanish name " albericogne, " from 

 which take the Arabic article " al " and we have the 

 root of the word "beri," which is much like " bari " 

 the root of the Swiss dialect word. Very likely the 

 Romans had received the name with the fruit from ar 

 menia and it would no doubt be interesting to trace it 

 in that language, or, that failing, I would suggest an- 

 cient Irish for a clue to what the Romans really did 

 call it. At any rate, I am not aware that anyone 

 has proved conclusively that they called it "prae- 

 cox." It seems to me the word " apricot " admits of a 

 much simpler explanation. I believe it to be French 



and derived from the contraction of the French words 

 "able " a sheltered place and " cote," a sitie of a house, 

 or "cote" a slope or hillside. Upon a sheltered side of 

 a house or a sheltered hillside, the fruit is usually grown 

 in the central latitudes of Europe. The German and 

 English names I consider merely corruptions of the 

 French original. — F. J. Muller, Birmingham , Alabama . 



The Goumi. — We have lately had specimens o£ this 

 novel fruit from Messrs. H. H. Berger & Co., of San 



The Goumi. 



Francisco. We find the pretty little red, gold-flecked ber- 

 ries pleasant eating, and we see no reason why the plant 

 should not become a pleasant addition to our gardens. 

 It is closely allied to the buffet-berry of our west, be- 

 ing a member of the genus elseagnus (/:. pungens. 

 Messrs. Berger wrote as follows concerning it ; "We 

 do not know whether this berry-bearing shrub is gener- 

 ally known in the United States, but it is certainly of 

 great merit, bearing when quite young, and in profuse 

 quantity. The fruit is eaten in Japan raw, or pickled 



