Where Did the Word 'Orange' Come From?3 photos

Where did the word ‘orange’ come from? Until the 16th century, Europeans had no idea what oranges were. Russians, especially, didn’t know about them – after all, oranges don’t grow in Russia! Then Portuguese sailors brought these orange, tasty fruits from eastern countries and began trading them with their neighbors. Neighbors, of course, asked: ‘Where did these apples come from?’ because they had never heard of oranges and the fruit looked similar to an apple in shape. Merchants honestly answered: ‘They come from China, Chinese apples!’ That’s how it got remembered. In Russia, oranges arrived through Holland. In Dutch, ‘apple’ is called ‘appel’, and ‘Chinese’ is ‘sien’. So that’s how ‘orange’ came into being.