It’s refreshing to see a site that’s just a database without five popups asking for a newsletter subscription. Just pure, unadulterated pomology

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thaumasiotes 7 hours ago | parent [-]

> Just pure, unadulterated pomology

The site is caught in something of a bind as to its name. "Pomiferous" isn't correctly formed; it means "fruit-bearing", because Latin pomum refers to all fruit equally.

The word for an apple is malum. But in an English-speaking context, that will tend to confuse people over similarity to the word for evil, which is... malum [compare "malevolent"]. (In Latin, the word for "apple" has a long A, while the word for "evil" has a short A, but this is not a distinction we can draw in English.)

-logy is a Greek-derived suffix and you'd want a Greek root. For apples, the ancient Greek word appears to be "melon", so your word would be "melology".

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FarmerPotato 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I'll have the pure unadulterated philology, please!

I hear 'pom' as coming to English through French, so that works for me.

Now technically "pome fruit" is the fruits from Rosaceae that encase the multiple seeds, so maybe that site ought to cover Pears, too?

(my Swiss-method apple manual did cover pears.)

I first looked up -ferous (to hand: Eric Partridge, Origins) and noticed the Latin root fer (ferent) is cognate to English 'bear'?

Next, a web site for Belgian Fries enthusiasts: "pommesfritefer.us"!

Seriously, thanks for your comment.

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thaumasiotes 3 hours ago | parent [-]

> I first looked up -ferous (to hand: Eric Partridge, Origins) and noticed the Latin root fer (ferent) is cognate to English 'bear'?

Yes, we have fer ⟷ bear just like we have frater ⟷ brother.

	▲	FarmerPotato 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		thanks again. Watch out, those forests are ursusferous.