▪ I. currant
(ˈkʌrənt)
Forms: α. 4 (raysons of) Coraunte, 5 (reysyns, etc. of) Corance, -awnce -auns, -ence, -ent, -ons, -ouns, 5–6 -aunce, 6 -ans, -ens, 6–7 (raisins of) Corinth. β. pl. (or collect.): 6 coraunce, corints, currents, 6–7 -ance, -antes, corans, corantes, (corinthes), 6–8 currans, 7 -ence, -ains, -ands, corants, -ents, -ins, corrans, -ands, -ants, (7–9 corinths), 6– currants. sing. 6 coren, 7 corin, coran, curren, current, 7–8 curran, (corinth, 8 curan), 7– currant.
[Orig. raisins of Corauntz, AF. raisins de Corauntz, = F. raisins de Corinthe raisins of Corinth; reduced before 1500 to corauntz, coraunce, whence the later corantes, currants, and corans, currence, currans (found in literature to c 1750, and still dial.). Some of the 16th c. herbalists restored the original form Corinth, which has been affected by some writers down to the 19th c.]
1. The raisin or dried fruit prepared from a dwarf seedless variety of grape, grown in the Levant; much used in cookery and confectionery. (Familiarly distinguished from 2 as grocers' currants or shop currants.)
† (α) raisins of Corauntz, Corinth, etc. Obs.
| [1334 in Rogers Agric. & Prices II. 545 Raisins de Corauntz.] ? c 1390 Form of Cury in Warner Antiq. Culin. 6 Lat it seeth togedre with powdor-fort of gynger..with raysons of Coraunte. 1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 217 Item, ffor vj. li. reysonys off corawnce, xviij. d. 1471 Marg. Paston Lett. No. 681 III. 25 Sende me word qwat price a li. of..reysonys of Corons. 1562 W. Bullein Bk. Compounds 27 a, Take..of Raisons of Corans picked. 1578 Lyte Dodoens v. lxxxi. 652 The smal Raysens which are commonly called Corantes, but more rightly Raysens of Corinthe. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 122 The small Raisins of Corinth, which we commonly call Currants. |
(
β)
corauntz,
currence,
currants,
currant, etc.
| a 1502 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 234 Coraunce, at i. d'. ob'. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14 Item for a butte of currantes, iii.s. iiii.d. 1578 [see α]. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 165 The plant that beareth the coren. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iii. 40 Three pound of Sugar, fiue pound of Currence, Rice. 1628 tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. ii. (1688) 235 Grapes of Corinth or Currants. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 205 A Prune, a Raisin, or a Curran. 1725 Pope Odyss. xiii. 293 note, The chief riches of the island [Zant] consist in Corinths. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 50 Breakfast..on Water gruel with Currants. 1748 Mrs. S. Harrison House-kpr.'s Pocket-Bk. i. (ed. 4) 2, I suppose you have Currans, Raisons, and Sugars. 1811 Pinkerton Petral. II. 115 A plumb-pudding, composed of flour with raisins and corinths. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. xxxiii, Had I not best go out and order raisins and corinths for the wedding-cake? 1860 Mrs. Harvey Cruise Claymore 271 Of late years the currant has been much more extensively grown in the neighbourhood of Corinth. |
2. a. Transferred to the small round berry of certain species of
Ribes (
R. nigrum,
R. rubrum) called Black and Red Currants. (The White Currant is a variety of the Red.)
These shrubs, natives of Northern Europe, were introduced into English cultivation some time before 1578, when they are mentioned by Lyte as the Black and Red ‘Beyond sea Gooseberry’. They were vulgarly believed at first to be the source of the Levantine currant; Lyte calls them ‘Bastarde Currant’, and both Gerarde and Parkinson protested against the error of calling them ‘currants’.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xx. 683 The first kinde is called..Ribes rubrum; in English Redde Gooseberries, Bastard Corinthes. 1629 Parkinson Paradisus Terr. 558 Those berries..usually called red currans are not those currans..that are sold at the Grocers. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. v. §12 Goosberries and Currans. 1677 ― Anat. Fruits iv. §6 A White Corin, without taking off the Skin, sheweth not unpleasantly how the Seeds are fastned. 1708 J. Philips Cyder ii. 61 Now will the Corinths, now the rasps supply Delicious draughts. 1799 tr. H. Meister's Lett. 181 Tartlets of raspberries, currants, and gooseberries. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 178 Black and Red Currants belong to the same genus as Gooseberry. |
b. The shrub which produces this fruit (more fully
currant-bush,
currant-tree); also other shrubs of the same genus, as the Flowering Currant,
R. sanguineum, a native of North America, cultivated for its deep crimson flowers.
| 1665–76 Ray Flora 223 Corinthes or currans, as they are vulgarly called, are plants well known. 1783 Johnson 18 Apr. in Boswell, I would plant a great many currants; the fruit is good. 1866 Treas. Bot. 982 R[ibes] sanguineum, the Red-flowered Currant, a native of North America, is..frequently grown in our gardens for ornamental purposes. |
3. Applied to various shrubs having fruit (usually edible) resembling that of
Ribes.
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 363 Australian Currant, Leucopogon Richei. Indian C., an American name for Symphoricarpus vulgaris. Native C., of Tasmania, a name applied to some species of Coprosma. Ibid. 674 Leptomeria Billardieri is a pretty broom-like shrub..producing greenish-red berries, which are called Native Currants in New South Wales and Victoria; they have a pleasant acid taste..The fruit of another species, L. acerba, is also called Currants in Australia. 1884 Miller Plant-n., W. Indian Currant, Jacquinia armillaris, Beureria havanensis, and B. succulenta... Indian Currant-bush, of Tropical America, the genera Miconia and Clidemia. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as (sense 1)
currant-bun,
currant-cake,
currant-grape,
currant loaf,
currant-vine; (sense 2)
currant-bush (see also 3),
currant-jelly,
currant-tree,
currant-wine;
currant-borer,
-clearwing, the clearwing moth
ægeria tipuliformis and its larva;
currant-gall, a small round gall, like an unripe currant, formed on the male flowers and leaves of the oak by the insect
Spathegaster baccarum;
currant-moth, a kind of moth that infests currant-bushes, the Magpie-moth;
currant-shrub, a shrub or acid drink made from currants;
currant-worm, a larva that infests currant-bushes.
| 1867 Amer. Naturalist June 223 The *currant-borer moth (Trochilium tipuliforme) darts about the leaves on hot sunny days. 1961 R. South Moths Brit. Isles (ed. 4) II. 344 This species seems to have been introduced into North America, where its caterpillar is known as the ‘currant borer’. |
| 1788 Picken Poems 13 (Jam.), Whangs o' *curran-buns an' cheese. 1890 Spectator 19 Apr. 532/1 Currant-buns and plum-puddings. |
| 1813 J. Forbes Orient. Mem. II. xxv. 405 The cotton shrub..in verdure resembles the *currant-bush. |
| 1605 B. Jonson Volpone v. iv, Ha you ne're a *curren-but to leape into? 1681 T. Jordan London's Joy in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 545, I have dwelt in a Tub..But ne're taught in a Currant-Butt before. |
| 1868 Wood Homes without H. xxv. 492 These are popularly called *Currant-galls, because they look very much like bunches of currants. |
| 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 32 We had a present sent to us of Figs, Filberds, and *Currant-grapes. 1731–7 Miller Gard. Dict. (ed. 3) s.v. Vitis, The Corinth Grape, vulgarly called the Currant Grape: Is an early Ripener. |
| 1922 W. G. R. Francillon Good Cookery (ed. 2) xxi. 385 *Currant loaf... Cream the yeast. Add some of the milk... Beat in the butter, sugar, fruits and egg. 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 16 Sept. 15/7 Brownie. Bread baked with currants and sugar..called..now, usually, currant loaf. |
| 1858–9 Humphreys Genera Brit. Moths, Abraxas Grossulariata, The large Magpie, or *Currant Moth. |
| 1856 Englishw. Dom. Mag. IV. 94 How to make *Currant Shrub. |
| 1649 Surv. Manor Wimbledon in Archæol. X. 424 (D.) The borders of which grass plots are *coran trees. 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 263 The Stem and Leaves of these shrubs are much like those of Corinth trees. |
| 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 715/1 In the Ionian Islands the *currant-vine is grown on the sides of the lower hills. |
| a 1648 Digby Closet Open. (1669) 113 *Currants-Wine, take a pound of the best currants. 1850 C. M. Yonge Langley School xxvii. 249 They each had a glass of currant wine. |
| 1867 Amer. Naturalist June 222 The Abraxas? ribearia of Fitch, the well-known *Currant-worm, defoliates whole rows of currant bushes. 1886 Harper's Mag. Aug. 447 The natural history of the currant worm and moth. |
▪ II. currant obs. form of
courante,
current.