marmalade

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɑː.mə.leɪd/ (UK); /ˈmɑɹ.mə.leɪd/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French marmelade,^[2][3][4] from Portuguese marmelada (“quince jam”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from marmelo “quince”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} an alteration of Latin melimelum (“a kind of sweet apple”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek μελίμηλον (melímēlon),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek μέλι (méli, “honey”) + μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A preserve made by boiling fruit, originally quinces, with sugar (1524).^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word was extended to preserves made from citrus fruit,^[4] and it now usually means a jelly of oranges or other citrus fruit with pieces of rind.^[7][2][5][6] Merriam-Webster dates the word only to about 1676.^[5] The verb, to spread with marmalade, is from the 1960s (1963 in Etymonline, 1967 in the OED).^[4][7]

Timeline

• 1524 – a quince preserve.^[7][3]
• 1530s – Etymonline's date.^[4]
• 17th century – citrus preserves.^[4]
• 1926 – the color of marmalade.^[7]
• 1963 – verb (Etymonline, 1967 in the OED).^[4][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A clear, jellylike preserve made from the pulp and rind of fruit, especially citrus fruit such as oranges.

Verb

1. To spread with marmalade.

Related words

• quince
• mellifluous
• jam

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press