"APRICOT," "PEACH," AND "NECTARINE," ETYMOLOGY OF

There is something curious in the etymology of the words "apricot," "peach," and "nectarine," and in their equivalents in several languages, which may amuse your readers. The apricot is an Armenian or Persian fruit, and was known to the Romans later than the peach. It is spoken of by Pliny and by Martial. Plin. N.H., lib. xv. c. 12.: "Post autumnum maturescunt Persica, æstate *præcocia*, intra xxx annos reperta." Martial, lib. xiii. Epig. 46.: "Vilia maternis fueramus *præcoqua* ramis, Nunc in adaptivis Persica care sumus." Its only name was given from its ripening earlier than the peach. The…