A few days ago
mrgathome

Was the fruit ‘orange’ named after the color, or vice versa? Is it same word in other languages?

Was the fruit ‘orange’ named after the color, or vice versa? Is it same word in other languages?

Top 5 Answers
A few days ago
Anonymous

Favorite Answer

Orange derives from Sanskrit nāraṅgaḥ “orange tree”, but another explanation tries to establish a link to a Dravidian root meaning “fragrant”. Compare Tamil narandam [நரந்தம்] “bitter orange”, nagarukam [நாகருகம்] “sweet orange” and nari [நாரி] “fragrance”. The Sanskrit or Dravidian word was borrowed into European languages through Persian nārang, Armenian nārinj, Arabic nāranj, (Spanish naranja and Portuguese laranja), Late Latin arangia, Italian arancia or arancio, and Old French orenge, in chronological order. The first appearance in English dates from the 14th century. The forms starting with n- are older; this initial n- may have been mistaken as part of the indefinite article, in languages with articles ending with an -n sound (e.g., in French une norenge may have been taken as une orenge). The name of the colour is derived from the fruit, first appearing in this sense in 1542.
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A few days ago
AEIOUY
My guess is that the word for the color came from the word for the fruit. People are pretty good at naming fruits original words. Any walk through the produce section of any grocery store or a farmers’ market will prove that. So I think the fruit came first and then the color.

I speak Spanish fluently and in spanish the color for orange is “anaranjado” while the name of the fruit is “naranja.” Very close.

Here is a similar case:

In most Spanish dialects the name for brown is “cafe” and it is also the name for coffee. Which came first?

So Spanish has the same issue that English has with which name came first with more than one color.

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A few days ago
paullucky
the word orange came from the color orange. Yes, there maybe other definitions, but I don’t know. In other languages you don’t say orange i.e. in Russian, to fully translate, you call orange “applesina” or, apple sin; funny. And other languages have different words for an orange
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A few days ago
Hippity-Hopscotch Girl
My guess is probably. Sorry…the best I can do.
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A few days ago
łαđÿ ħαια ツ™
ya!!!!!!!!!! some!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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