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ΛΩΤΟΣ

English translation: lotus; persimmon

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Greek term or phrase:λωτός
English translation:lotus; persimmon
Entered by: SeiTT

09:31 Nov 13, 2003
Greek to English translations [Non-PRO]
Greek term or phrase: ΛΩΤΟΣ
ΛΩΤΟΣ

Apart from the obvious meaning of lotus, I seem to remember a greengrocer in Greece using this word for a persimmon. Can it in fact mean persimmon; is it used for anything apart from the lotus flower?

Best wishes,

Simon
SeiTT
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:17
persimmon
Explanation:
YES!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-13 09:40:53 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

See this link for persimmon http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/fruits/persimmon1.htm
(it has a picture) and I AM 100% SURE that this is called \"lotus\" in Greek!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-13 10:18:02 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

FROM THE OED:

LOTUS
lotus (_______). (Also lotos 7 erron. lutes.) Pl. lotuses.
[a. L. lotus, Gr. _____, the name of several dissimilar plants; it is not known whether the word in the various applications is etymologically identical; in sense 3 Herodotus speaks of it as Egyptian.]
1. The plant yielding the fruit which was the food of the Lotophagi of Greek legend; represented by Homer (Od. ix. 90 ff.) as producing in those who ate it a state of dreamy forgetfulness, and loss of all desire to return home. Hence often allusively.
The Homeric lotus was identified by later Gr. writers with a North African shrub, the descriptions of which are thought by most naturalists to refer to the jujube-tree (Zizyphus Lotus), though other identifications have been proposed.
1540_41 Elyot Image Gov. 39 Whan the Companions and seruantes of Ulisses had eaten abundantly of the herbe called Lotos.
1591 Spenser Virg. Gnat 193 And them amongst the wicked Lotos grew, Wicked for holding guilefully away Vlysses men.
_1600 T. Deloney Thomas of Reading (1632) G j b, Then would I be like those men (that eating of the tree Lutes) forget the Country where they were borne.
1628 Sir R. Le Grys tr. Barclay\'s Argenis 182 What Lotos in Africa doth hinder thy returne hither?
1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 106 Lotos, the name; divine, nectarious juice!
1773 Johnson Journ. West. Isl. Wks. X. 400 At Dunvegan I had tasted lotus and was in danger of forgetting that I was ever to depart.
1832 Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 105 Eating the Lotos day by day.
1900 Contemp. Rev. July 57 If it had all been Yalta, I could have eaten of the lotus for many a day, but Sebastopol is grim and grey [etc.].
2. A tree mentioned by ancient writers, distinguished by its hard, black wood, of which statues, flutes, etc. were carved; prob. the nettle-tree, Celtis australis. Also, the date-plum, Diospyros Lotus.
1551 Turner Herbal i. H vj b, Affryca_bryngeth furth an excellent tree called lotus,_the wood hath a black color and is myche desyred of men for to make pypes.
1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 99 The Larch and Lotus_deserve to be propagated for their rarity, excellent Shade, and durable Timber.
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 317 Lotus or Lote-tree, Celtis.
Ibid., Lotus, supposed, of Homer, Diospyros.
3. a. The water-lily of Egypt and Asia, Nymphζa Lotus (and other species), and Nelumbium speciosum.
b. Arch. An ornament representing the Egyptian water-lily: cf. lotus blossom, etc. in 6.
1584 Rich tr. Herodotus ii. 92 b, In time of the floude_there arise in the water great plenty of lyllyes, which the people of Ζgypt call Lotos.
1601 Holland Pliny I. 397 The Ζgyptian Lotus_groweth in the marishes of Ζgypt.
1785 Wilkins Bhagvat v. 45 The leaf of the lotus.
1859 Tennent Ceylon I. i. iii. 123 The chief ornaments of these neglected sheets of water are the large red and white Lotus.
1877 Longfellow Kιramos 286 The grand Osiris holding in his hand the lotus.
1883 H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 204 The blue and pink lotus of India.
1900 Max Mόller in 19th Cent. Nov. 732 After death the souls enter into the calyx of a lotus.
c. The plant treated symbolically in Hindu and Buddhist thought; also, in Yogic exercises, a bodily position said to resemble the lotus blossom. Cf. lotus gospel, pose, etc. in 6.
1848 J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. Nov. (1854) I. x. 229 Low stone dykes, into which were let rows of stone slabs, inscribed with the sacred _Om Mani Padmi om\'.---_Hail to him of the lotus and jewel.\'
1887 E. Arnold (title) Lotus and jewel, containing _In an Indian temple\', _A casket of gems\'_with other poems.
1949 S. Muzumdar Yogic Exercises 103 There are insuperable impediments because of which many will fail to master the Lotus.
1973 R. Rendell Some lie & some Die xviii. 183 Vedast_had taken up a Yoga position, a half-Lotus, on the floor.
4. Some kind of clover or trefoil (referred to by Homer as food for horses). _ wild lotus, perh. Melilotus officinalis.
1562 Turner Herbal ii. 42 a, Lotus syluestris that is called wylde lotus, which som call ye less trifoli, groweth in Libia.
_1611 Chapman Iliad xiv. 294 With his leaves did dewy lotus store Th\' Elysian mountain.
1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 3 Yellow Flowers_like those of wild Lotus.
1709 Addison Tatler No. 147 _4 While the Earth beneath them sprung up in Lotus\'s, Saffrons, Hyacinths [etc.].
1820 Shelley Hymn to Mercury xvii. 6 When with rush-grass tall, Lotus and all sweet herbage, every one Had pastured been.
1842 Tennyson _none 96 And at their feet the crocus brake like fire, Violet, amaracus and asphodel, Lotos and lilies.
5. Adopted by botanists as the name of a genus of leguminous plants; hence in popular language spec. the Bird\'s-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus.



PERSIMMON


persimmon (___________). Forms: 7 putchamin, pessemmin, posimon, 8 pitchumon, pishamin, phishimon, porsimmon, 8_9 persimon, 9 -siman, -simmen, 8_ persimmon.
[Corruption of the native name in the Powhatan dialect (Algonquian of Virginia). The exact form of the first element is uncertain; the second is the suffix -min, common to many names of grains or small fruits in Algonquian dialects: cf. mondamin, shahbomin, in Longfellow\'s _Hiawatha\'. The stress was orig. not on the second syllable, persi_min or _persimin being earlier than per_simmon.]
1. The plum-like fruit of the tree Diospyros virginiana; the American Date-plum, of yellowish orange colour, an inch or more in diameter, with from six to eight stony seeds; it is very astringent even when ripe, but becomes sweet and edible when softened by frost. Also, The large red fruit of the Chinese and Japanese species D. Kaki.
1612 Capt. Smith Map Virginia 12 The fruit like medlers; they call Putchamins, they cast vppon hurdles on a mat, and preserue them as Pruines.
1612 W. Strachey Trav. Virginia x. (Hakl. Soc.) 119 They have a plomb which they call pessemmins, like to a medler, in England, but of a deeper tawnie cullour.
1670 D. Denton Descr. New York (1845) 3 The Fruits natural to the Island are Mulberries, Posimons,_Huckelberries.
1705 Beverley Hist. Virginia ii. iv. (1722) 112 Of stoned Fruits, I have met with three good Sorts, viz. Cherries, Plums, and Persimmons.
1731 Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina I. p. x, Phishimons, whorts, and some other fruit.
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 322_3 Persimon Plum,_Pishamin Plum, Diospyros.
1785 J. Belknap in M. Cutler\'s Life, etc. (1888) II. 235, I enclose you the seeds of the Persimmon, a fruit natural to Pennsylvania.
1859 All Year Round No. 1. 17 The [Chinese] persiman is like a large egg-plum, but containing half a dozen stones.
1863 Alcock Capital Tycoon I. 323 Apples, pears, plums, peaches, chestnuts, persimmons, oranges,_all are here.
1887 Century Mag. Oct. 859/2 Away! Away!_to where the purple and golden persimmons hang low from the boughs.
2. (More fully persimmon-tree.) The tree Diospyros virginiana (N.O. Ebenaceζ); a native of North America, which produces the fruit described in 1, and yields a fine hard wood valuable for turning. Also applied to other species, as Black or Mexican P., D. Texana, which has a small black insipid fruit, and Japanese P., D. Kaki.
1737 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 62 In the moistest part of this land some porsimmon-trees grow.
1788 Rees Chambers\' Cycl., Plum, Indian date, pishamin, persimon, or pitchumon, diospyros,_a genus of the polygamia dioecia class.
1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. I. ii. 47 They brought_loaves made of the fruit of the persimmon.
1882 Garden 7 Jan. 1/2 There are_fruiting Japan Persimmons, American Persimmons.
3. In various phrases. U.S. colloq. and slang. to be a huckleberry to (or over) someone\'s persimmon: see huckleberry 4.
1827 De Quincey Murder Wks. 1854 IV. 50 Why or with what view, it passes my persimmon to tell you.
1841 Spirit of Times 18 Dec. 499 They had not forgotten that the game little mare had put Sarah up to 7:45_7:40, in March last, and it seemed as if it was now their turn to _shake down the persimmons\'.
1844 in Sperber & Trittschuh Amer. Pol. Terms (1962) 313/2 David Tod should go there and repeat that original remark of his about the longest pole knocking down the persimmons.
1845 Knickerbocker XXV. 425 Wall now, that are\'s a jump above my tallest persimmons.
1857 Call (San Francisco) 3 Apr. 4/2 He will deal himself four aces and his opponent four queens, so that your honor will perceive he must _rake the persimmons\'.
1861 in W. H. Russell My Diary North & South (1863) II. iii. 62 Let both parties meet where there will be no interruption at the scalping business, and the longest pole will knock the persimmon.
1889 Farmer Americanisms s.v., _To rake up the persimmons.\'---To pocket the stakes or spoils.
Ibid., _The persimmon above one\'s huckleberry\',_an avowal of disbelief in one\'s ability to perform_a given task or undertaking.
1896 Daily News 5 June 5/3 There is_in the Southern States, a proverb__The longest pole knocks the persimmon\', i.e. success falls to him who has the most advantages.
1900 F. P. Dunne Mr. Dooley\'s Philos. 68 _I\'ll jus\' move me music back a mile,\' he says, _an\' peg away, an\' th\' longest gun takes th\' persimmons,\' he says.
1901_2 Farmer & Henley Slang s.v., That\'s persimmon (or all persimmon) = _That\'s fine\'.
1903 Cutcliffe Hyne McTodd 40 No use taking four bites at a persimmon.
1946 California Folklore Q. July 240 That\'s the ripe persimmon. That is just right, or taken at the best moment.
4. U.S.
a. The colour of persimmon fruit, yellow to red-orange.
b. The colour of persimmon wood, reddish brown. Also attrib. and Comb.
1928 S. V. Benιt John Brown\'s Body 150 Grievin\' yaller gals always does all right. Next time I\'se gwine to git me a coal-black gal. I\'se tired of persimmon-skins.
1975 Vogue Dec. 103 Persimmon lipstick.
1977 Time 27 June 50/1 The thickly painted figures with features eroded by light, the sharp eupeptic color---emerald, persimmon, rust, ultramarine.
1977 New Yorker 10 Oct. 132/2 They looked forward eagerly to sporting their persimmon outfit, say, in the first round of the club championship.
5. attrib., as persimmon-beer, -bush, -wood.
1737 J. Brickell Nat. Hist. N. Carolina 38 The following are made in the Country, viz. Cyder, Persimon-Beer, made of the Fruit of that Tree, [etc.].
1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3), Persimmon Beer, a kind of domestic beer whose principal ingredient is persimmons.
_1941 P. B. Barringer Natural Bent (1949) xxvi. 189 In the early seventies alcohol was everywhere in the South, and cut glass decanters stood on every sideboard._ Beer was just coming, unless we except _persimmon beer\' and _locust beer\' made on every plantation and in many village homes.
1950 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xiv. 51 Persimmon beer, a beverage made from ripe persimmons.
1643 Virginia Stat. (1823) I. 250 Skowen\'s damms and Persimon Ponds.
1892 Joseph Gardner & Sons\' Monthly Circular 1 Oct., Persimmon Wood, _3 to _3 10s. per ton.
1786 G. Washington Diary 8 Aug. (1925) III. 102 A parcel of small Persimon bushes.
1944 G. Wilson Passing Institutions 177 Many an upland field not good for cultivation formerly had its flock of sheep, browsing among the sassafras and persimmon bushes.
Selected response from:

Spiros Doikas
Local time: 07:17
Grading comment
many thanks for such a thorough, excellent answer!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +6persimmon
Spiros Doikas
5 +3LOTUS (but...)
Vicky Papaprodromou
5 +1lotus
Helen Chrysanthopoulou
4Date-plum
Costas Zannis


  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
lotus


Explanation:
so, simple!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-13 09:37:43 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

persimmon = διοσπυρος

Helen Chrysanthopoulou
Local time: 07:17
Native speaker of: Native in GreekGreek
PRO pts in pair: 2

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
0 min
disagree  Spiros Doikas: βλέπε http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/fruits/persimmon1.htm
4 mins
agree  Betty Revelioti
2 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +6
persimmon


Explanation:
YES!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-13 09:40:53 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

See this link for persimmon http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/fruits/persimmon1.htm
(it has a picture) and I AM 100% SURE that this is called \"lotus\" in Greek!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-13 10:18:02 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

FROM THE OED:

LOTUS
lotus (_______). (Also lotos 7 erron. lutes.) Pl. lotuses.
[a. L. lotus, Gr. _____, the name of several dissimilar plants; it is not known whether the word in the various applications is etymologically identical; in sense 3 Herodotus speaks of it as Egyptian.]
1. The plant yielding the fruit which was the food of the Lotophagi of Greek legend; represented by Homer (Od. ix. 90 ff.) as producing in those who ate it a state of dreamy forgetfulness, and loss of all desire to return home. Hence often allusively.
The Homeric lotus was identified by later Gr. writers with a North African shrub, the descriptions of which are thought by most naturalists to refer to the jujube-tree (Zizyphus Lotus), though other identifications have been proposed.
1540_41 Elyot Image Gov. 39 Whan the Companions and seruantes of Ulisses had eaten abundantly of the herbe called Lotos.
1591 Spenser Virg. Gnat 193 And them amongst the wicked Lotos grew, Wicked for holding guilefully away Vlysses men.
_1600 T. Deloney Thomas of Reading (1632) G j b, Then would I be like those men (that eating of the tree Lutes) forget the Country where they were borne.
1628 Sir R. Le Grys tr. Barclay\'s Argenis 182 What Lotos in Africa doth hinder thy returne hither?
1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 106 Lotos, the name; divine, nectarious juice!
1773 Johnson Journ. West. Isl. Wks. X. 400 At Dunvegan I had tasted lotus and was in danger of forgetting that I was ever to depart.
1832 Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 105 Eating the Lotos day by day.
1900 Contemp. Rev. July 57 If it had all been Yalta, I could have eaten of the lotus for many a day, but Sebastopol is grim and grey [etc.].
2. A tree mentioned by ancient writers, distinguished by its hard, black wood, of which statues, flutes, etc. were carved; prob. the nettle-tree, Celtis australis. Also, the date-plum, Diospyros Lotus.
1551 Turner Herbal i. H vj b, Affryca_bryngeth furth an excellent tree called lotus,_the wood hath a black color and is myche desyred of men for to make pypes.
1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 99 The Larch and Lotus_deserve to be propagated for their rarity, excellent Shade, and durable Timber.
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 317 Lotus or Lote-tree, Celtis.
Ibid., Lotus, supposed, of Homer, Diospyros.
3. a. The water-lily of Egypt and Asia, Nymphζa Lotus (and other species), and Nelumbium speciosum.
b. Arch. An ornament representing the Egyptian water-lily: cf. lotus blossom, etc. in 6.
1584 Rich tr. Herodotus ii. 92 b, In time of the floude_there arise in the water great plenty of lyllyes, which the people of Ζgypt call Lotos.
1601 Holland Pliny I. 397 The Ζgyptian Lotus_groweth in the marishes of Ζgypt.
1785 Wilkins Bhagvat v. 45 The leaf of the lotus.
1859 Tennent Ceylon I. i. iii. 123 The chief ornaments of these neglected sheets of water are the large red and white Lotus.
1877 Longfellow Kιramos 286 The grand Osiris holding in his hand the lotus.
1883 H. W. V. Stuart Egypt 204 The blue and pink lotus of India.
1900 Max Mόller in 19th Cent. Nov. 732 After death the souls enter into the calyx of a lotus.
c. The plant treated symbolically in Hindu and Buddhist thought; also, in Yogic exercises, a bodily position said to resemble the lotus blossom. Cf. lotus gospel, pose, etc. in 6.
1848 J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. Nov. (1854) I. x. 229 Low stone dykes, into which were let rows of stone slabs, inscribed with the sacred _Om Mani Padmi om\'.---_Hail to him of the lotus and jewel.\'
1887 E. Arnold (title) Lotus and jewel, containing _In an Indian temple\', _A casket of gems\'_with other poems.
1949 S. Muzumdar Yogic Exercises 103 There are insuperable impediments because of which many will fail to master the Lotus.
1973 R. Rendell Some lie & some Die xviii. 183 Vedast_had taken up a Yoga position, a half-Lotus, on the floor.
4. Some kind of clover or trefoil (referred to by Homer as food for horses). _ wild lotus, perh. Melilotus officinalis.
1562 Turner Herbal ii. 42 a, Lotus syluestris that is called wylde lotus, which som call ye less trifoli, groweth in Libia.
_1611 Chapman Iliad xiv. 294 With his leaves did dewy lotus store Th\' Elysian mountain.
1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 3 Yellow Flowers_like those of wild Lotus.
1709 Addison Tatler No. 147 _4 While the Earth beneath them sprung up in Lotus\'s, Saffrons, Hyacinths [etc.].
1820 Shelley Hymn to Mercury xvii. 6 When with rush-grass tall, Lotus and all sweet herbage, every one Had pastured been.
1842 Tennyson _none 96 And at their feet the crocus brake like fire, Violet, amaracus and asphodel, Lotos and lilies.
5. Adopted by botanists as the name of a genus of leguminous plants; hence in popular language spec. the Bird\'s-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus.



PERSIMMON


persimmon (___________). Forms: 7 putchamin, pessemmin, posimon, 8 pitchumon, pishamin, phishimon, porsimmon, 8_9 persimon, 9 -siman, -simmen, 8_ persimmon.
[Corruption of the native name in the Powhatan dialect (Algonquian of Virginia). The exact form of the first element is uncertain; the second is the suffix -min, common to many names of grains or small fruits in Algonquian dialects: cf. mondamin, shahbomin, in Longfellow\'s _Hiawatha\'. The stress was orig. not on the second syllable, persi_min or _persimin being earlier than per_simmon.]
1. The plum-like fruit of the tree Diospyros virginiana; the American Date-plum, of yellowish orange colour, an inch or more in diameter, with from six to eight stony seeds; it is very astringent even when ripe, but becomes sweet and edible when softened by frost. Also, The large red fruit of the Chinese and Japanese species D. Kaki.
1612 Capt. Smith Map Virginia 12 The fruit like medlers; they call Putchamins, they cast vppon hurdles on a mat, and preserue them as Pruines.
1612 W. Strachey Trav. Virginia x. (Hakl. Soc.) 119 They have a plomb which they call pessemmins, like to a medler, in England, but of a deeper tawnie cullour.
1670 D. Denton Descr. New York (1845) 3 The Fruits natural to the Island are Mulberries, Posimons,_Huckelberries.
1705 Beverley Hist. Virginia ii. iv. (1722) 112 Of stoned Fruits, I have met with three good Sorts, viz. Cherries, Plums, and Persimmons.
1731 Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina I. p. x, Phishimons, whorts, and some other fruit.
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 322_3 Persimon Plum,_Pishamin Plum, Diospyros.
1785 J. Belknap in M. Cutler\'s Life, etc. (1888) II. 235, I enclose you the seeds of the Persimmon, a fruit natural to Pennsylvania.
1859 All Year Round No. 1. 17 The [Chinese] persiman is like a large egg-plum, but containing half a dozen stones.
1863 Alcock Capital Tycoon I. 323 Apples, pears, plums, peaches, chestnuts, persimmons, oranges,_all are here.
1887 Century Mag. Oct. 859/2 Away! Away!_to where the purple and golden persimmons hang low from the boughs.
2. (More fully persimmon-tree.) The tree Diospyros virginiana (N.O. Ebenaceζ); a native of North America, which produces the fruit described in 1, and yields a fine hard wood valuable for turning. Also applied to other species, as Black or Mexican P., D. Texana, which has a small black insipid fruit, and Japanese P., D. Kaki.
1737 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 62 In the moistest part of this land some porsimmon-trees grow.
1788 Rees Chambers\' Cycl., Plum, Indian date, pishamin, persimon, or pitchumon, diospyros,_a genus of the polygamia dioecia class.
1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. I. ii. 47 They brought_loaves made of the fruit of the persimmon.
1882 Garden 7 Jan. 1/2 There are_fruiting Japan Persimmons, American Persimmons.
3. In various phrases. U.S. colloq. and slang. to be a huckleberry to (or over) someone\'s persimmon: see huckleberry 4.
1827 De Quincey Murder Wks. 1854 IV. 50 Why or with what view, it passes my persimmon to tell you.
1841 Spirit of Times 18 Dec. 499 They had not forgotten that the game little mare had put Sarah up to 7:45_7:40, in March last, and it seemed as if it was now their turn to _shake down the persimmons\'.
1844 in Sperber & Trittschuh Amer. Pol. Terms (1962) 313/2 David Tod should go there and repeat that original remark of his about the longest pole knocking down the persimmons.
1845 Knickerbocker XXV. 425 Wall now, that are\'s a jump above my tallest persimmons.
1857 Call (San Francisco) 3 Apr. 4/2 He will deal himself four aces and his opponent four queens, so that your honor will perceive he must _rake the persimmons\'.
1861 in W. H. Russell My Diary North & South (1863) II. iii. 62 Let both parties meet where there will be no interruption at the scalping business, and the longest pole will knock the persimmon.
1889 Farmer Americanisms s.v., _To rake up the persimmons.\'---To pocket the stakes or spoils.
Ibid., _The persimmon above one\'s huckleberry\',_an avowal of disbelief in one\'s ability to perform_a given task or undertaking.
1896 Daily News 5 June 5/3 There is_in the Southern States, a proverb__The longest pole knocks the persimmon\', i.e. success falls to him who has the most advantages.
1900 F. P. Dunne Mr. Dooley\'s Philos. 68 _I\'ll jus\' move me music back a mile,\' he says, _an\' peg away, an\' th\' longest gun takes th\' persimmons,\' he says.
1901_2 Farmer & Henley Slang s.v., That\'s persimmon (or all persimmon) = _That\'s fine\'.
1903 Cutcliffe Hyne McTodd 40 No use taking four bites at a persimmon.
1946 California Folklore Q. July 240 That\'s the ripe persimmon. That is just right, or taken at the best moment.
4. U.S.
a. The colour of persimmon fruit, yellow to red-orange.
b. The colour of persimmon wood, reddish brown. Also attrib. and Comb.
1928 S. V. Benιt John Brown\'s Body 150 Grievin\' yaller gals always does all right. Next time I\'se gwine to git me a coal-black gal. I\'se tired of persimmon-skins.
1975 Vogue Dec. 103 Persimmon lipstick.
1977 Time 27 June 50/1 The thickly painted figures with features eroded by light, the sharp eupeptic color---emerald, persimmon, rust, ultramarine.
1977 New Yorker 10 Oct. 132/2 They looked forward eagerly to sporting their persimmon outfit, say, in the first round of the club championship.
5. attrib., as persimmon-beer, -bush, -wood.
1737 J. Brickell Nat. Hist. N. Carolina 38 The following are made in the Country, viz. Cyder, Persimon-Beer, made of the Fruit of that Tree, [etc.].
1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3), Persimmon Beer, a kind of domestic beer whose principal ingredient is persimmons.
_1941 P. B. Barringer Natural Bent (1949) xxvi. 189 In the early seventies alcohol was everywhere in the South, and cut glass decanters stood on every sideboard._ Beer was just coming, unless we except _persimmon beer\' and _locust beer\' made on every plantation and in many village homes.
1950 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xiv. 51 Persimmon beer, a beverage made from ripe persimmons.
1643 Virginia Stat. (1823) I. 250 Skowen\'s damms and Persimon Ponds.
1892 Joseph Gardner & Sons\' Monthly Circular 1 Oct., Persimmon Wood, _3 to _3 10s. per ton.
1786 G. Washington Diary 8 Aug. (1925) III. 102 A parcel of small Persimon bushes.
1944 G. Wilson Passing Institutions 177 Many an upland field not good for cultivation formerly had its flock of sheep, browsing among the sassafras and persimmon bushes.

Spiros Doikas
Local time: 07:17
Native speaker of: Native in GreekGreek
PRO pts in pair: 1580
Grading comment
many thanks for such a thorough, excellent answer!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Eftychia Stamatopoulou
20 mins
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou: You are absolutely right.The fruit in the picture must be the Greek "lotus".And that's some research work!!!The answer definitely belongs to you.Well done!
36 mins
  -> Προσπαθώ σκληρά να πλησιάσω τις άψογες δικές σου απαντήσεις!
agree  Christina Emmanuilidou: ποπο...τεκμηριωση...εμεινα με το στομα ανοικτο!!!!
1 hr
  -> Ευχαριστώ!
agree  Nadia-Anastasia Fahmi: Beautiful example of research, Spyros! Way to go!!
1 hr
agree  Natassa Iosifidou
4 hrs
agree  Valentini Mellas
1 day 7 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Date-plum


Explanation:
A kind of persimmon



Costas Zannis
Local time: 07:17
Native speaker of: Native in GreekGreek
PRO pts in pair: 296
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41 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
ΛΩΤΟΣ
LOTUS (but...)


Explanation:
Λωτός (Lotus corniculatus, L)

Δεν έχει καμία σχέση με το λωτό του καρποφόρου δέντρου. Η κοινή του ονομασία είναι αγριοστροφύλλι.
Ιδιότητες:
Πιστεύεται ότι ανοίγει την όρεξη και ότι είναι αντισπασμωδικός.
Που το συναντάμε:
Στην Ελλάδα ο Λωτός συναντάται αυτοφυής
http://www.ert.gr/afieromata/votana/votana11.html
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Λωτός
όνομα διαφόρων φυτών, αναφέρονται ο ελληνικός λωτός, ο κυρηναϊκός, ο Αιγυπτιακός
λωτός
είδος δέντρου και ο καρπός του
lotus
1. λωτός, φρούτο που στους αρχαίους ελληνικούς μύθους προκαλούσε αμνησία
2. θαλάσσιος κρίνος
http://www2.ellinogermaniki.gr/ep/socrates/phase-II/Lexikol....
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Μερικά φυτά που τα λουλούδια τους τρώγονται
...μεταξύ τους κι ο λωτός
http://www.valentine.gr/recipes3_gr.htm
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Καρποφορεί σε βλαστούς του έτους που αναπτύσσονται από πλάγιους ή ακραίους οφθαλμούς των βλαστών του παρελθόντος έτους. Οι βλαστοί του έτους φέρουν στα πλάγια ανθοφόρους και βλαστοφόρους οφθαλμούς από τους οποίους οι ανθοφόροι εκπτύσσονται την ίδια βλαστική περίοδο και δίνουν καρπούς, ενώ οι βλαστοφόροι που βρίσκονται προς την κορυφή του βλαστού εκπτύσσονται στην επόμενη βλαστική περίοδο και δίνουν νέα βλάστηση.
http://www.agrool.gr/gewrgia/faq/ans/13.htm
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However, persimmon is a totally different plant. Its Latin name is Diospyros virginiana and in Greek "διόσπυρος" which is:
... έβενος. Δέντρο της οικογένειας των εβενιδών.
Επιστημονικά λέγεται διόσπυρος. ...
http://www.gnosinet.gr/ez/ShowCategory.asp?CatID=54&Skip=240


Persimmon, often called "simmon," is found throughout the state, except in the higher mountains.

The broadly oblong, pointed leaves are 4 to 6 inches long and 2 to inches wide. The leaf has a smooth margin and a broad, flat midrib, with small, conspicuous dark veins on the underside.

Male and female flowers grow on separate trees. Male flowers grow in two- to three-flowered clusters, while the female flower is solitary. The fruit, edible when ripe, is a berry 1 to 2 inches in diameter. It is a rich reddish-purple and contains several flattened oblong seeds about 1/2 inch long. The fruit is eaten by humans as well as by opossums, raccoons, deer, fox, hogs and many birds.

The characteristic bark pattern of persimmon is easily recognized, , being dark colored and deeply divided into thick, small, square plates. Persimmon heartwood is dark brown to black. The sapwood is cream colored to light brown or gray. Persimmonwood is very hard and shock-resistant. It is used for spindles, shuttles, golf club heads and some furniture.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pic/NCTrees/commonpersimmon.htm

So, by all means the English name will be lotus, whether concerning the flower or the fruit.

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Note added at 1 hr 11 mins (2003-11-13 10:43:46 GMT)
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As Spyros points out the fruit of persimmon is definitely the one we call \"lotus\" in Greek. The picture in the site I refer to makes it look like blackberries, but use Spyros\' references for sure!

Vicky Papaprodromou
Greece
Local time: 07:17
Native speaker of: Native in GreekGreek
PRO pts in pair: 1435

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Estella
19 mins
  -> Thanks!
agree  Nadia-Anastasia Fahmi: Wonderful work, Vicky! Nice to see people like you and Spyros on this site!!
1 hr
  -> Τhanks, Nadia!But in our case, save all compliments for Spyros. He really deserves them!
agree  Valentini Mellas
2 days 3 hrs
  -> Thanks!
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