• Original language: French
  • Original form and meaning: limon - 1. lemon (Citrus limon); 2. [techn.] drawbar; 3. mud, [geol.] silt


(Note: If the status is not specifically indicated then the word is stylistically neutral and generally used; if earlier meaning and status equals current use the former may be expressed by writing "dito". Cf. also the project guidelines.)


Language Form Date of Borrowing (and Obsolescence) Current Meaning and Status Earlier Meanings and Statusses Source
Catalan ... ... '...' '...' ...
Croatian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Czech limeta ... 'lime' '...' ...
Danish lime ... 'lime' '...' ...
Dutch limoen ... 'lime' '...' ...
English noun: lemon; adjective: lemon fruit: 15c

US slang: 1909 slang meaning "a Quaalude": 1960s

' noun: meaning 1;

and also: a) lemon yellow; b) informal: one that is unsatisfactory or defective; c) AmE slang: worthless thing d) slang: "a Quaalude" (sedative drug);

adjective: e)lemon-yellow; f) made from lemons; g) tasting or smelling like lemons'

'1906, British slang: to hand someone a lemon was for "to pass off a sub-standard article as a good one". Or it simply may be a metaphor for something which "leaves a bad taste in one's mouth"' http://www.etymonline.com
Estonian laim ... 'lime' '...' ...
Finnish limetti ... 'lime' '...' ...
French ... ... '...' '...' ...
Frisian ... ... '...' '...' ...
German Limone (also Limette or Limonelle) ... 'lime' '...' ...
Hungarian lime ... 'lime' '...' ...
Irish ... ... '...' '...' ...
Italian limone, limetta ... 'limone: meaning 1;

limetta: lime'

'...' ...
Latvian laims ... 'lime' '...' ...
Lithuanian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Maltese ... ... '...' '...' ...
Norwegian lime ... 'lime' '...' ...
Polish limona ... 'lime' '...' ...
Portuguese limão, limoeiro; lima, limeira ... 'limão, limoeiro: meaning 1;

lima, limeira: lime'

'...' ...
Rumantsch ... ... '...' '...' ...
Slovak limet ... 'lime' '...' ...
Slovenian limona, limoninZ ... 'meaning 1' '...' ...
Spanish limón, limonero; limero, lima ... 'limón, limonero: meaning 1;

limero, lima: lime'

'...' ...
Swedish lime ... 'lime' '...' ...

Annotations edit

Etymology: from OF limon "citrus fruit", from OProv, from Ar laimun or Pers limu(n), [...] cognate with Skt. nimbu "the lime".

Slang meaning "a Quaalude" is 1960s, from Lemmon, name of a pharmaceutical company that once manufactured the drug.

AmE slang "worthless thing", 1909, from lemon, perhaps via criminal slang sense of "a person who is a loser, a simpleton", which is perhaps from the notion of someone a sharper can "suck the juice out of".

To hand someone a lemon was British slang (1906) for "to pass off a sub-standard article as a good one". Or it simply may be a metaphor for something which "leaves a bad taste in one's mouth".

Source: http://www.etymonline.com


Information on Other Languages edit

meaning 1:

Czech: citrón, citrónový

Danish: citron

Dutch: citroen

Estonian: sidrun

Finnish: sitruuna

German: Zitrone

Hungarian: citrom

Latvian: citrons

Lithuanian: citrina

Norwegian: sitron

Polish: cytryna

Slovak: citrón, citrónový

Swedish: citron


meaning "lime":

Lithuanian: rūgščiavaisio citrinmedžio vaisius

Slovenian: citronka