Everyday LifeGreek → English
Marmalade
/ˈmɑːrməleɪd/noun
A preserve made from citrus fruit, with pieces of peel suspended in the jelly.
The Greek roots
μέλι
méli
honey
μῆλον
mêlon
apple
Literally: “honey apple”
The story of the word
Portuguese marmelada was quince paste, from marmelo, quince, from Latin melimelum, from Greek μελίμηλον, a sweet apple got by grafting an apple onto quince stock. English had the word by the 1530s and it still meant quince. Oranges took over the recipe in eighteenth-century Scotland, and the honey apple vanished from the jar while staying in the name.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Portuguese → French → English
- First recorded
- 1530s
Same family
melonmellifluousquince
In a sentence
He liked his marmalade bitter, cut thick, and spread on cold toast.