Fruit is an irresistibly delicious and nutritional addition to any diet, offering essential vitamins and energy boost. Plus, fruits provide a fantastic way for kids to learn new vocabulary!
Learning fruit names in both English and Sanskrit can help children navigate both languages more effectively while expanding their vocabulary. Making their learning even more straightforward by including pictures to help them remember can make this experience unforgettable!
Apple
Apples are round, crisp fruits with red or yellow skin and light-colored flesh, usually grown on an apple tree (Malus domestica). Cultivated for their firm, edible fruits, apples have cultural significance in many societies as they symbolize fertility, love, and health, while the apple tree itself often holds religious or mythological associations in Western culture.
Sanskrit terms an apple as “captcha,” from its root kta, meaning to grow. Wood apple fruit was considered particularly delicious and nutritious; some believe that its seeds contain wisdom for all times of wisdom as well as magical properties.
Somadeva wrote the Kathasaritsagara by Somadeva (10th century A.D). Here, kapittha refers to both the Feronia elephantum Correa tree and its fruit called Elephant Apples; Caraka-samhita also employs the term kapittha for this tree and fruit.
History has often associated apples with Eden and the Garden of Eden, though there are various origins for this association. Apples are often depicted in art, and literary characters are frequently shown with them. A Vulgate translation of the Bible from English into Latin in the late 4th century refers to apples as malum, which could refer to any variety of fruit.
Santosh is an Indian name that denotes happiness and contentment, derived from Sanskrit roots san and tosh, which translate to “to be happy,” with tosh being used as a verb to indicate happiness while “san” refers to extraordinary happiness – hence giving this name its unique meaning of special blissfulness. Santosh also refers to a river in India.
Mango
Mangoes are one of the world’s most beloved tropical fruits and are widely cultivated worldwide. Renowned for their high nutritional value and a wide array of uses in foods and beverages ranging from juices, preserves, and chutneys to medicines, mango has also long been used as part of traditional and alternative treatments for diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory conditions as well as being an aphrodisiac that enhances sexual vigor.
The mango is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists alike, seen as a sign of love and prosperity; its leaves often decorate doors and windows during festivals and celebrations. Mangoes also make an ideal snack choice for both kids and adults and are regularly featured as ingredients in several Indian dishes, such as dahl or chunda, an intensely flavorful, sweet-spicy grated mango delicacy.
Kathasaritsagara by Somadeva depicts Ayodhya’s King with a bower of mango trees – an allusion to Spondias mangifera, commonly referred to as mango in India and Indonesia.
Mangoes combine Kashaya (Astringent Taste) and Madhura (Sweet Taste), thus creating the ideal combination for Ayurveda medicine: Vrysya (Aphrodisiac, Enhancing Semen, Improving Sexual Vigour), Pratibha (Enhances Dignity and Beauty, Makes Body Firm & Robust), Bhedana (Expels Abaddha [Not Bound], Baddha [Bound], or Pindita Mala [excretory substances] downwards), Bhedana [Expels Abaddha[Bound], Snigdha]. According to Ayurvedic texts, mango has various antidiabetic, antioxidant, viral cardiotonic, hypotensive, and anti-inflammatory properties as well as Snigdha qualities, which make its juice an excellent remedy against Gout and Arthritis treatment as an anti-antibodies as a superb sedative when treating high fever dizziness headaches while having anti-syphilitic properties! It even has anti-syphilitic properties!
Cherry
Cherries are an iconic fruit, widely beloved around the world and adored in desserts and raw. In India, cherries are most often grown in the northern states, where Mughal Emperor Akbar first introduced them. Today, we can find cherries everywhere from Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Sanskrit provides another name for cherries: This word, derived from the root word phala, which translates as “fruit,” can also refer to something produced as the result of action taken or refer to specific types of trees and plants like fig trees. Furthermore, it may refer to particular kinds of fruits like custard apples.
Her Hindu name Durga, also knows Athena and serves as Vishnu’s wife and mother to Ganesha and several other gods. In Hindu mythology, she is revered as being beautiful and pure – becoming a symbol of fertility and prosperity for generations of her devotees.
Numerous English words originate in Sanskrit. One such example is punch, an alcoholic drink made up of alcohol mixed with fruit juice, soda water, and spices; this term derives from the Sanskrit word phala, which translates to “fruit.” Additionally, Sanskrit lends us several other valuable terms, including coconut (nariyal in Hindi) and oranges (naranga in Sanskrit), which provide plenty of useful vocabulary as well as being an invaluable source of inspiration for modern writers alike. Sanskrit gives us many valuable words from which contemporary writers take inspiration.
Strawberry
Strawberry symbolism of female fertility can easily be seen when conducting a Google image search; images show young women holding or eating strawberries with children of indeterminate genders playing around with them like toys. Their external seeds resembling straw further add to their associations of sexual availability and purity.
Christian symbolism associates the strawberry with modesty, spiritual purity, or virginity, often used to represent Mary. Additionally, its triple leaves symbolize Christianity’s triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Additionally, strawberries may also have been associated with the Norse goddess Frigg, whose role it was to hide the souls of dead children within strawberries in order to ensure safe passage into the afterlife.
Strawberry cultivation began in India 6,000-8,000 years ago, and today, it forms an essential part of Indian food culture. Strawberries are one of the most beloved fruits in India, consumed both raw and cooked for their health benefits. Here are some interesting facts about strawberries:
Names of strawberries in different languages can shed a lot of light on their origin. For instance, “berry” originates in Latin as cerasus (cherry tree). English “berry” can also be traced back to German Beribel and Dutch Biertje, possibly brought over by Celts as adaptations over time, and this might explain why the Latin “berry” never made its way into English or Italian lexicons.
Watermelon
Watermelons are large, oblong, or roundish melons with hard green rinds and sweet, juicy red or yellowish pulp that make for a refreshing and healthy snack or dessert ingredient. Watermelons contain vitamins A and C as well as potassium; antioxidants may help prevent cardiovascular disease while decreasing diabetes risk; they’ve even been used in medicine to treat kidney disorders, hypertension, gout, and prostate cancer, as well as reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Watermelons, commonly referred to in Sanskrit as (rktphlm or raktphalam), can be found in ancient texts like Bhavaprakasha, which details their benefits and can help relieve conditions like indigestion, thirst, excess sweating, and constipation.
Persian speakers refer to it as xarboz, meaning watermelon in English. This may be cognate with Turkish karpuz or possibly from Ancient Greek karpos (“fruit, grain”) via Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to pluck”). Iran first acquired watermelons from Turkestan during the 10th century; they eventually reached China by the 12th century.
The ridge gourd, known as lauki in Hindi and turai in Tamil, is an integral component of Indian cuisine and an herb used for treating various ailments and improving skin health. According to the Sanskrit definition, this vegetable may help balance pitta dosha balance. Additionally, its properties can aid digestion and prevent indigestion as it contains plenty of vitamin C for immune system health benefits.
