Acer pseudoplatanus is often called "sycamore". I know that A.pseudoplatanus was brought to the British Isles from Europe sometime between the Roman era and the 17th century (according to Kew). What I'd like to know is when it became known as "sycamore" since this seems to relate to the Ficus sycomorus. I'd like to track down (if possible) who named it and why. I do remember reading something about this once many decades ago, but cannot remember where. Is there anyone who can point me to a naming resource that might help? I do know that later sycamore (A.pseudoplatanus) became the "sycamore" (Platanus occidentalis) in the Americas, probably due to colonist naming practices, but it is the earlier travel of the name that interests me.
Superficial similarity in the leaf shape, combined with the lack of botanical education in the mediaeval period. Ficus sycomorus is common in Palestine and as well as several mentions in the Bible, would have been seen by European pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land; on return, they would have then misidentifed the similar shape of Acer pseudoplatanus leaves (and later, also Platanus in N America) as being the same thing.
Yes that seems sensible, except that the timeline doesn't seem to fit. The leaf shape between Acer pseudoplatanus and Platanus occidentalis is similar and so I can see why colonists in the Americas called P.occidentalis "sycamore" but the leaf shape of Ficus sycomorus is not at all similar and seems a big "mistake." I do know that the religious travels of medieval persons probably caused much love of the Acer since it was already known as sycamore (Chaucer and Cowper mention it) in Britain. Those men and women planted their sycamore for religious reasons not knowing it wasn't the same kind of tree Zacchaeus climbed. One question is whether Acer pseudoplatanus became "sycamore" before or after importation to Britain. Another is who named the European tree such. Don't know if such information is traceable now of course.
The poem formerly attributed to Chaucer "The Flower and the Leaf" Here is the stanza in question: "That benched was, and [all] with turfes new Freshly y-turf'd, whereof the greene grass, So small, so thick, so short, so fresh of hue, That most like to green wool, I wot, it was; The hedge also, that yeden in compass, And closed in all the greene herbere, With sycamore was set and eglatere," There is also a mention in Chaucer's The House of Fame. In Book III (the dream): "There I saw the magician Colle perform upon a table of sycamore a thing strange to describe; I saw him carry a windmill under a walnut-shell." It's possible there are other places where the tree shows up.
An interesting note in terms of the movement of the word: In French it is "sycomore" which is often how it is spelt in Biblical texts. The Greek is "sykomoros" and in Hebrew "shiqmah". It would seem that the word in Egypt is often "roumi" an important type of the fruit. Interestingly, the term "roumi" came to be something also meaning "Christian" or "European" generally. I suppose it was the colour of the pinkish fruit? :) The tree itself (the sycomore fig) is from Central Africa, migrating to Egypt where it is also important in mythology (goddess Nut and/or Hathor). It then becomes part of the Jesus-story. I think of "sycamore" as a meme that latches on like the hooked leaves of a thistle to various cultural narratives and moves itself across the world well out of the comfortable climate zone to which the tree itself must cling.
Thanks! To add to that, the Greek name derives from sykos (a fig) + moros (a mulberry), i.e., 'fig-mulberry'. The Hebrew looks like it might be a loan word from Greek.
