ALLIGATOR PEAR

Avocado

Alligator pear is another name for the avocado.

The American Heritage Dictionary entry for Alligator Pear is:
"By folk etymology from American Spanish aguacate, avocado (the trees are said to grow in areas infested by alligators)."

In the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, the word for the fruit of the avocado tree was 'ahuacatl.'  Spanish speakers pronounced it 'aguacate', but other Spanish speakers substituted the form 'avocado' for the Nahuatl word because 'ahuacatl' sounded like the early Spanish word 'avocado' (now 'abogado'), meaning "lawyer."  In borrowing the Spanish 'avocado', first recorded in English in 1697 as "avogato pear."

Neither the skin nor the alligators are the sole source of the likely origin of alligator pear.  In the opinion of the Oxford English Dictionary, the most likely origin is simply the mispronunciation of the Nahuatl word for the fruit "ahuacatl,"  and sites the following (among others): 1861 Tylor Anahuac ix. 227 "There is a well-known West Indian fruit which we call an avocado or alligator-pear, and which the French call 'avocat' and the Spaniards 'aguacate.' All these names are corruptions of the Aztec name of the fruit, 'ahuacatl.'"

I believe all three - the skin, the alligators and mispronunciation all contributed to the development of the name 'alligator pear.'
 

 

Also see: Food Articles and Cooking Tips

You are here > Home

Next

Please feel free to link to any pages of FoodReference.com from your website.
For permission to use any of this content please E-mail: james@foodreference.com
All contents are copyright © 1990 - 2024 James T. Ehler and www.FoodReference.com unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved.  You may copy and use portions of this website for non-commercial, personal use only.
Any other use of these materials without prior written authorization is not very nice and violates the copyright.
Please take the time to request permission.



 

FOOD TRIVIA and FOOD FACTS

FoodReference.com Logo

 

 

Popular Pages

Food History Articles
World Cuisine
Pleasures of the Table
Recipe Index

CULINARY SCHOOLS
& COOKING CLASSES

From Amateur & Basic Cooking Classes to Professional Chef Training & Degrees

 

 

Home   |   Articles   |   FOOD TRIVIA   |   Today in Food History   |   Food_Timeline   |   Recipes   |  Cooking_Tips   |   Food Quotes   |   Who’s Who   |   Culinary Schools and Tours   |   Food_Trivia_Quizzes   |   Food Poems   |   Free Magazines   |   Food Festivals & Events

FoodReference.com (since 1999)

FOOD TRIVIA and FOOD FACTS SECTION