The word pomegranate is a compound that tells you exactly what the fruit is: an apple full of seeds. It comes from the Old French pome grenate, which derives from the Medieval Latin pomum granatum — pomum meaning apple or fruit, and granatum meaning seeded or full of grains, from granum (seed). This descriptive name has been remarkably durable, surviving in recognizable form across European languages for over a thousand years.
The pomegranate itself is one of the oldest cultivated fruits, with archaeological evidence of cultivation dating back to at least 3000 BCE in the region spanning modern Iran to northern India. Ancient Egyptians included pomegranates in tomb paintings, and the fruit appears prominently in the Hebrew Bible, Greek mythology, and Zoroastrian tradition. The Latin name was merely the Roman contribution to a fruit that already had names in dozens of languages.
The linguistic legacy of the pomegranate extends far beyond the fruit itself. The most dramatic descendant is the word grenade. French soldiers saw a resemblance between the pomegranate and the small explosive devices they hurled at enemies — both were roughly spherical objects that burst open to release their contents. The grenade scattered deadly fragments just as the pomegranate scatters seeds. This military metaphor, born in the sixteenth century, gave us not only grenade but also grenadier (a soldier who throws grenades) and grenadine (a syrup
The Spanish city of Granada takes its name from the fruit as well. During the Moorish period, the pomegranate was cultivated extensively in southern Spain, and the fruit became so associated with the region that it lent its name to the last Moorish kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula. The pomegranate still appears on Granada's coat of arms.
In Greek mythology, the pomegranate plays a pivotal role in the story of Persephone. After being abducted by Hades to the underworld, Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds, which bound her to spend six months of each year in the realm of the dead. This myth provided an explanation for the seasons — the earth grows cold and barren during Persephone's absence and blooms again upon her return.
The English spelling has wandered over the centuries. Middle English forms included pomgarnet, pomegarnet, and pomgranate before the modern spelling stabilized. The fruit's association with garnet — the deep red gemstone — is a folk etymology; the gem's name actually comes from the same Latin granatum, referring to its resemblance to pomegranate seeds.
The pomegranate's rich symbolic history encompasses fertility, abundance, death, and resurrection across multiple cultures. In Jewish tradition, the fruit is said to contain 613 seeds, corresponding to the 613 commandments of the Torah. In Christian art, the pomegranate symbolizes the resurrection. In Persian culture, it represents love and fertility. Few fruits carry such a weight of meaning, and few words preserve their descriptive origins as clearly as pomegranate — still, after seven centuries in English