sycamore

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɪkəmɔː/ (UK); /ˈsɪkəmoɹ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sicamour,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French sicamor,^[2][3][4] from Latin sȳcomorus,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek συκόμορος (sukómoros, “fig-mulberry”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} as if from Ancient Greek σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”) + μόρον (móron, “black mulberry”).^[2][3][4][6] Merriam-Webster, Random House and Weekley take the Greek word as a folk-etymological adaptation of a Semitic word related to Hebrew šiqmāh “sycamore”.^[5][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fig tree of Egypt and Syria with leaves like the mulberry's, the sycamore of the Bible (c. 1350).^[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The biblical tree was a broad shade tree,^[4] and in English the name was extended to a large European maple grown for shade (1588),^[7][3][4] perhaps because both were notable for their shade.^[4] In North America it was applied to the plane tree or buttonwood (1814),^[7][3] which is now the main sense in American English.^[2][6][1]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – the fig tree of Egypt and Syria.^[7][3][4]
• c. 1384 – the wood of the sycamore.^[7]
• 1588 – the European sycamore maple.^[7][3]
• 1814 – the North American plane tree.^[7][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of several North American plane trees of the genus Platanus, especially the buttonwood, with lobed leaves, ball-like fruit clusters and bark that flakes off in patches.
2. (chiefly British) A large Eurasian maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, grown as a shade tree.
3. A fig tree, Ficus sycomorus, of Africa and the Middle East, the sycamore of the Bible.

Related words

• sycophant
• fig
• mulberry
• plane

References

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