The World of Apples

The apples that aren't

Melon

Cucumis melo, Cucurbitaceae

The melon is a vine of the Cucurbitaceae, widely cultivated for its fruit3. Kew gives the native range of Cucumis melo as Ethiopia to South Africa, south-western Syria to the Arabian peninsula and the Indian subcontinent, and New Guinea to northern and central Australia2.

Its name hides a Greek apple. Melon came into English through French and Late Latin mēlō, short for the Latin mēlopepō, from the Greek mēlopepōn: mēlon, apple, and pepōn3. Greek mēlon meant an apple or, more generally, any tree-fruit, and Galen used mēla, apples, of a kind of gourd5. The same word stands in the Greek names of the quince, the peach and the citron5.

Where the sources disagree

  • Pepōn. The American Heritage Dictionary translates it as gourd3; Wiktionary as ripe4.

Sources

  1. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Cucumis melo, Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Supports: the accepted name and family.
  2. Plants of the World Online: Cucumis melo, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Supports: the accepted name and the native range, "Ethiopia to S. Africa, SW. Syria to Arabian Pen. and Indian Subcontinent, New Guinea to N. & C. Australia".
  3. melon, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fifth edition, HarperCollins, 2022. Supports: vines of the family Cucurbitaceae widely cultivated for their fruit; the derivation through French and Late Latin mēlō from Latin mēlopepō and Greek mēlopepōn, from mēlon, apple, and pepōn, gourd.
  4. melon, Wiktionary. Supports: the derivation from Greek μηλοπέπων, from μῆλον, apple, and πέπων, ripe.
  5. μῆλον (B), in Liddell, Scott and Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, Logeion, University of Chicago. Supports: mēlon as "apple or (generally) any tree-fruit"; Galen's use of mēla for a kind of gourd.