areca
(ˈærɪkə)
Forms: 6 archa, arreca, 7 arrequa, arecca, 8 areka, 9 areeka, 7– areca; also 7 areque, arek, 8 areek, 9 arak.
[a. Pg. areca, ad. Malayálam áḍekka, = Canarese áḍike, Tamil áḍaikāy, f. aḍai denoting close arrangement of the cluster + kāy nut, fruit (Bp. Caldwell). The accent is on the first syllable in all the languages.]
Name of the tree and fruit of a genus of palms, of which one species (A. Catechu) bears nuts of the size of a nutmeg, which many inhabitants of South-East Asia roll up with a little lime in the leaves of the betel, and chew, thereby tingeing their teeth and saliva red.
| [1510 Varthema Trav. transl. J. W. Jones (1863) 144 The tree of the said coffolo is called Arecha.] 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 223 Great quantie of Archa..which fruit they eat..with the leaf of an Herbe which they call Bettell. Ibid. II. i. 262 Cocos, figges, arrecaes, and other fruits. 1615 tr. De Montfart's Surv. E. Indies 39 The fruit..called Areque. 1625 Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1157 This Arrequa..maketh men almost drunke. 1702 W. J. Le Bruyn's Voy. Levant (1737) II. lxvii. 101 The Areek is a fruit which grows in thick bunches. 1808 Parsons Trav. Asia xii. 259 Arak nuts, wrapped in beetle leaf. 1871 S. Mateer Travancore 56 The thick, leather-like leaf sheath of the areca palm tree. |