Wild pear tree.
Name - Origin
Αγριοαχλαδιά Wild pear tree, pear tree in the wild, that is. "It can receive inoculation from domestic pears of various varieties" (Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 2, entry arcappis, o, 292).
"It is a tree (big shrub) related to the pear tree, but its leaves are narrower, lance-shaped. The flowers are white, and the fruit, the wild pear, has an astringent taste. The plant is found in bushy and forest areas" (Savvides 1999, 26).
ETYM. < árkos [wild] + apios (pear) (Yangoullis 2009, entry αρκάππης, ο, 75)
Scientific name: Pyrus syriacus (Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 2, entry αρκάππης,ο, 292)
According to George Loukas, it is the wild pear tree, pear tree, ohni or ogni. In the Cypriot dialect he also uses the word arggappis (Kypri 1979 [2002²], entry αρκάππης,ο, 62).
The fruit is eaten fresh when ripe.
Additional information and bibliography
Yangoullis K. G. (2009), Thesaurus of the Cypriot dialect. Interpretative, Etymological, Phraseological and Nomenclatural Dictionary of the Medieval and Modern Cypriot Dialect, Theopress Publications, Nicosia.
Kypri Th. D. (ed.) (1979 [2002²]), Materials for the compilation of a historical dictionary of the Cypriot dialect, Part A, Glossary of George Loukas, Publications of the Centre for Scientific Research, XLI, Nicosia.
Pavlides A. (ed.) (1985), Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 2, Filokypros, Nicosia.
Kyriaki Panteli, Argyro Xenophontos
Foods
Appídin - pear
Gennadios writes about Cypriot pears at the beginning of the 20th century: "Cyprus, which in the times of Pliny was praised for its large pears, nowadays produces very few and mostly poor quality…
Traditional Recipes
Spoon sweets - Pear
"We peel the pears without cutting the stem. We heat the syrup, add the pears and turn them twice." (Eleftheria Valanidou, Agridia).