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Origin and history of pear

pear(n.)

Middle English pere, from Old English pere, peru "fruit of the pear tree," common West Germanic (Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pere, Old High German pira, bira, Dutch peer), from Vulgar Latin *pera, variant of Latin pira, plural (taken for fem. singular) of pirum "pear," a loan word from an unknown source, perhaps Semitic or a lost Mediterranean language. It likely shares an origin with Greek apion "pear," apios "pear tree." Their cultivation began as much as 3,000 years ago.

Entries linking to pear

pearl(n.)

"nacreous mass formed in the shell of a bivalve mollusk as a result of irritation caused by some foreign body," early 14c., perle (mid-13c. as a surname), from Old French perle (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin perla (mid-13c.), which is of unknown origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *pernula, diminutive of Latin perna, which in Sicily meant "pearl," earlier "sea-mussel," literally "ham, haunch, gammon," so called for the shape of the mollusk shells.

Other theories connect it with the root of pear, also somehow based on shape, or Latin pilula "globule," with dissimilation. The usual Latin word for "pearl" was margarita (see margarite).

Used from 14c. of anything valuable or of the finest kind; from mid-15c. of something small, round, and glistening white. For pearls before swine, see swine. Pearl Harbor translates Hawaiian Wai Momi, literally "pearl waters," so named for the pearl oysters found there; transferred sense of "effective sudden attack" is attested from 1942 (in reference to Dec. 7, 1941).

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    Trends of pear

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    bergamot
    Earlier (1610s) it was the name for a kind of pear deemed especially luscious; in this sense the word is ultimately a Romanic...folk-etymologization of Turkish beg-armudi "prince's pear" or "prince of pears," influenced in form by the place-name (probably...not directly from the town name, because it is on the opposite end of the peninsula from where the pear grows)....
    choke
    choke-cherry (1785) supposedly was so called for its astringent qualities: compare choke-apple "crab-apple" (1610s); and choke-pear...(1530s) "kind of pear with an astringent taste" (also with a figurative sense, defined by Johnson as "Any aspersion or sarcasm...
    avocado
    The English corruption alligator (pear) is 1763, from Mexican Spanish alvacata, alligato....
    rebec
    small medieval three-stringed musical instrument with a pear-shaped sound box, played with a bow, early 15c., rebekke, from...
    core
    early 14c., "heart or inmost part of anything" (especially an apple, pear, etc.), of uncertain origin, probably from Old...
    russet
    The adjective was applied to a type of apples by 1620s; as the name of a variety of eating apple by 1708; as a type of pear...
    cider
    in a biblical context), "strong liquor;" mid-14c., "liquor made from the juice of fruits," from Old French cidre, cire "pear...
    poem
    1540s, "written composition in metrical form, a composition arranged in verses or measures"  (replacing poesy in this sense), from French poème (14c.), from Latin poema "composition in verse, poetry," from Greek poēma "fiction, poetical work," literally "thing made or create
    peer
    c. 1300, "an equal in rank, character, or status" (early 13c. in Anglo-Latin), from Anglo-French peir, Old French per (10c.), from Latin par "equal" (see par (n.)). Sense of "a nobleman of especial dignity" (late 14c.) is from Charlemagne's Twelve Peers in the old romances, who,
    tree
    Old English treo, treow "tree" (also "timber, wood, beam, log, stake"), from Proto-Germanic *trewam (source also of Old Frisian tre, Old Saxon trio, Old Norse tre, Gothic triu "tree"), from PIE *drew-o-, suffixed variant form of root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast," with speci

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