Getting to the Root </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 8:31 PM on Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Getting to the Root

By Serge Lecomte

The tomato wasn’t always known as a tomato.

When it got to Spain from the New World, it was named “pome dei Moro” (Moor’s apple).

Then it was perverted by the French into pomme d’amour (love apple).

The Italians named it “pomi d’oro” (golden apple) probably because of its golden color.

The Russians borrowed “pomidor” from the Italians, but it has no meaning.

Red tomatoes didn’t come on the scene until much later.

In the American colonies, the tomato was known as a love apple.

The tomato was cultivated by the Aztecs. They called it “xitomatl.” Other tribes named it “tomati.” That’s where we now derive the word tomato.

At first the tomato didn’t fare well because its plant resembles “belladonna” (beautiful lady). It is poisonous and hallucinogenic. The Germans called the tomato “wolf peach.”

By 1858, the tomato became popular in the United States. Earlier, it was despised because every pill was made from tomato extract.

Dr. Serge Lecomte graduated from Vaderbilt University with a degree in linguistics. He taught Russian and Spanish at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has lived in the Homer area sice 1999and writes plays and novels for fun.

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