Online Encyclopedia
Make a correction
Your email address will not appear on the site. Note, comments may take some time to be approved.
Back to article:
ACORN
Your email:
Article name:
Article content:
ACORN, the fruit of the oak-tree; a word also used, by analogy with the shape, in nautical language, for a piece of wood keeping the vane on the mast-head. The etymology of the word (earlier akerne, and acharn) is well discussed in the New English Dictionary. It is derived from a word (Goth. akran) which meant " fruit," originally " of the unenclosed land," and so of the most important forest produce, the oak. Chaucer speaks of " achornes of okes." By degrees, popular etymology connected the word both with " corn " and " oak-horn," and the spelling changed accordingly.