pomegranate
(pɒm-, pʌmˈgrænɪt, ˈpɒm-, ˈpʌmgrænɪt, now usu. ˈpɒmɪˌgrænɪt)
Forms: 4 pomme-, poom-, powmbe-, 4–5 poum(e-, pum-, 4–6 powm-, 4–8 pom-, 6 pomb-, 4–8 pome-; α. 4–6 -garnade, -garnard(e, -garnat(e, -garnet(t(e, (4 -gernett, 5 -garned); β. (5 -grenet), 5–7 -granad(e, -granat, 5 -granarde, 6–8 -granet; 6– pomegranate. γ. 4 pown-, poun-garnette, 4–6 -garnard, 4–7 -garnet, (5 -karnet); 5 pon-, 6 poyngarnette, ponegarnarde, pound garnette. δ. 5 bamegarnade, 6 palm-garnete.
[ME. a. OF. pome (pomme, pume) grenate, -ade, -et(t)e, garn-, gharn-, guarn-, guern-, gern-ate, -ade, -et(t)e, f. pomme apple + grenate, in mod.F. grenade = It. granata, Sp. granada:—pop.L. or Com. Romanic grānāta for cl. L. grānātum (= mālum grānātum, in med.L. pōmum grānātum), a pomegranate, lit. (an apple) having many grains or seeds. The stem-part gren- became in OF. by metathesis gern-, garn-, whence the Eng. forms in -garn- from 14th to 16th c.; the OF. ending -ate became in Eng. -at(e, -ette, -et(t, the F. -ade of southern origin (see -ade) gave Eng. -ade and -ard. (Cf. garnade1, garnet2, granate2, grenade1.) The first element (in Norman F. pume, poume) became in ME. variously pomme, poom, pome, pom, pomb, and poum, pum, powmb, corrupted to poun, pown, pon, poyn, and pound. Stressed by the poets generally from 17th to 19th c., and by Bailey, Johnson, Walker, Smart, pomeˈgranate; from late nineteenth century ˈpomegranate.]
1. a. The fruit of the tree Punica Granatum, family Myrtaceæ, a large roundish many-celled berry, with many seeds, each enveloped in a pleasantly acid juicy reddish pulp, enclosed in a tough leathery rind of a golden or orange colour tinged with red.
| α 1320–30 Horn Ch. 374 A poumgarnet þer sche brak. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1466 As þay prudly hade piked of pom⁓garnades. 1382 Wyclif Num. xiii. 24 [23] Of the powm⁓garnettis [1388 of pumgarnadis] forsothe..thei token. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xcix. (Bodl. MS.), Malus granata is a tre þat bereth pommegarnettes. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 84 Take þe iowse of þe poume garnet. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 15 Orengis, almondis, and the pome garnade [rime glade]. c 1460 Play Sacram. 186 Pumgarnetis & many other spycis. 1530 Palsgr. 256/2 Pome garnet, pomme de granade. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. N j b, Ye must gyue hym some of a pomgarnade to eate. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health cxlii. 53 The juyce of pome Garnardes. 1613 R. Cawdrey Table Alph. (ed. 3), Pomegarnet, or pomegranet, a kind of fruit. |
| β 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 244 Gourdes and Poumgrene[t]s. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 108 Bawmes, oliues, pomegranardes. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe ii. vii. (1541) 21 b, Pomegranates be of good iuyce, and profitable to the stomacke. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 35 The tree, that beareth the pomgranate. 1590 Webbe Trav. (Arb.) 33 Al manner of fruites whatsoeuer,..Pombgranades, Orenges, Limons. 1591 Drayton Harmonie of Ch. (Percy Soc.) 27 Pleasant liquor that distils from the pomgranet fine. c 1620 Robinson Mary Magd. 1095 Her temples, peices of Pomegranates seeme. 1655 E. Terry Voy. E. Ind. 96 Here are..store of Pome-granats, Pome-citrons. 1725 Pope Odyss. vii. 149 With deeper red the full pomegranate glows. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 681 Nor, on its slender twigs Low-bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. 632 Pomegranates are quoted in 1284 at a shilling each. |
| γ 1382 Poungarnet [see b]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. i. (MS. Bodl.), Almaundes and poungarnardes leueþ here malice bi crafte of tileinge. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 647/37 Hoc malum granatum, poun⁓karnet. 1466 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 330 Item, for xvj. pongarnettes, the same day, ij.s. vj.d. 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 74 A present of poyn⁓garnettes and apulles. 1545 Rates of Customs c ij b, Pound garnettes the M. vis. iiiid. 1545 Nottingham Rec. III. 224 Unum pomum granatum vocatum ‘a pound gayner’ [? error for garnet]. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxxix. (1870) 218 Olyues, ponegarnardes,..Figges and Raysins, and all other fruites. 1577 Frampton Joyfull Newes iii. (1596) 97 Granadas, which wee call Poungarnardes. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxvi. 281 Like vnto the graines of a Poungarnet. 1660 R. May Accomplisht Cook 2 Almonds, Poungarnet and Lemons. |
| δ 1480 Bamegarnade [see 5]. 1599 Dallam Trav. (Hakl. Soc.) 85 Heare dothe grow good store of..palm garnetes. |
| fig. a 1529 Skelton Sp. Parrot 39 With Kateryne incomparable,..That pereles pomegarnet. a 1658 Cleveland Times 80 Those precious Spirits that can deal The Pome⁓granates of Grace at every Meal. |
b. The tree (
Punica Granatum) which bears this fruit, a native of northern Africa and western Asia, now naturalized in the warmer regions of the globe generally; a
pomegranate-tree.
| 1382 Wyclif Song Sol. vi. 10 [11] Beholde, if..the poun⁓garnetis [1388 Pumgranate trees] hadden buriouned. 1644 Evelyn Diary 9 Feb., A labyrinth of cypresse, noble hedges of pomegranates. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 380 There are several other Trees and Shrubs..now in Flower, as..Pomegranates with double and single Flowers. 1813 Byron Giaour 493 The young pomegranate's blossoms strew Their bloom in blushes ever new. 1856 Bryant Momero ii, I see thy fig-trees bask, with the fair pomegranate near. 1856 Delamer Flower Gard. (1861) 127 The Double-flowered Pomegranate will thrive out-doors, in England, against a wall. |
c. The flower of the pomegranate; usually scarlet, rarely white or yellowish.
| 1873 ‘Ouida’ Pascarèl II. 122 A woman goes by with a knot of pomegranate in her dark hair. 1886 Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbô 14 As rosy as a half-opened pomegranate. |
d. A colour resembling that of the pomegranate. Usu.
attrib. or as adj.| a 1855 C. Brontë Emma in Cornh. Mag. (1860) I. 495 Miss Wilcox..in her blue merino dress and pomegranate ribbon. 1881 C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork i. 47 Pomegranate, Bokhara red, Damascus blue..are some of the colours to be had in plushes. 1906 W. J. Locke Beloved Vagabond vii. 83 A beautiful gipsy, holding fascinating allurements in lustrous eyes and pomegranate lips. 1927 [see ash n.2 1 d]. 1955 E. Bowen World of Love v. 94 Mamie's pomegranate toenails. 1958 J. Cannan And be a Villain iv. 100 A high-waisted pomegranate satin with gold lace sleeves. 1972 Guardian 17 Oct. 13/4 The walls are pomegranate with pomegranate velvet lighting in the recesses. |
2. A carved or embroidered representation of a pomegranate as an ornament or decoration.
| 1382 Wyclif Exod. xxviii. 34 In the myddil litel belles menged, so that the litel belle be gold, and a powm garnet [1388 pyn appil]. Ibid. xxxix. 23 Litil bellis of moost puyr gold, the whiche thei puttiden bitwix the powmbe garnettis [1388 pum garnadis], in the nether more party of the coote bi enuyroun. 1542 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 168 Tapstre warke with pounde garnettes. 1834 Lytton Pompeii i. iv, Those walls were ornamented with the pomegranate consecrated to Isis. 1875 W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownshire 33 For finial, it [the Old Cross of Wigtown] has a pome⁓granate cut in stone. |
3. Applied, with defining words, to other trees in some way resembling the pomegranate; as the Native P. (
Capparis nobilis), and Small Native P. (
Capparis mitchelli) of Australia.
| 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Native Plants 12 ‘Small Native Pomegranate’, ‘Native Orange’. 1894 Melbourne Museum Catal., Economic Woods 10 (Morris) Native Caper Tree or Wild Pomegranate. Found in the Mallee Scrub. |
† 4. transf. A rissole.
Obs.| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. i. 38 Pome-Garnez.—Take lene Raw Porke..& hew it smal..þanne make þer-of pelettys, as it were Applys, be-twene þin hondys. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
pomegranate apple,
pomegranate bark,
pomegranate colour (hence
pomegranate-coloured adj.),
pomegranate kernel,
pomegranate root;
pomegranate-like,
pomegranate-red,
adjs.;
pomegranate-water, a drink made from pomegranates.
| 1480 Caxton Ovid's Met. x. iv, Trees beryng Bamegarnade apples. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 77 Her cheekes like..faire pomegranade kernels washt in milke. 1754 J. Bartlet Farriery 22 Take pomegranate bark, or oak bark, two ounces. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 692 The tongue..is now dry, livid, black or of a pomegranate colour. 1825 Greenhouse Comp. I. 130 (Dahlia superflua), the purple..brick-red, dark red, pomegranate-coloured, dark purple. 1836 J. M. Gully Magendie's Formul. (ed. 2) 177, Grenadia, and bark of the pomegranate root. 1876 ‘Ouida’ Winter City viii, That small pomegranate-like mouth. 1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 87 Pomegranate-water..an agreeably cooling drink. |