[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886) › c10.396 # Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.396 Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.396 - **Language:** English ### [c10.396](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.396) We cannot believe that in either place the object intended was the Ananas, which has carried that American name with it round the world. Whatever the Assyrian representation was intended for, Conti seems to have stated, in the words \*pinus habent\* (as it runs in Poggio’s Latin) merely that they had pine-trees. We do not understand on what ground the translator introduced pine-apples. If indeed any fruit was meant, it might have been that of the screw-pine, which though not eaten might perhaps have been seen in the bazars of Pegu, as it is used for some economical purposes. But \*pinus\* does not mean a fruit at all. ‘Pine-cones’ even would have been expressed by \*pineas\* or the like. \[A reference to Mr L. W. King was thus answered: “The identity of the tree with the date-palm is, I believe, acknowledged by all naturalists who have studied the trees on the Assyrian monuments, and the ‘cones’ held by the winged figures have obviously some connection with the trees. I think it was Prof. Tylor of Oxford (see \*Academy\*, June 8, 1886, p. 283) who first identified the ceremony with the fertilization of the palm, and there is much to be said for his suggestion. The date-palm was of very great use to the Babylonians and Assyrians, for it furnished them with food, drink, and building materials, and this fact would explain the frequent repetition on the Assyrian monuments of the ceremony of fertilisation. On the other hand, there is no evidence, so far as I know, that the pine-apple was extensively grown in Assyria.” Also see \*Maspero, Dawn of Civ.\* 556 \*seq.\*; on the use of the pine-cone in Greece, Fraser, \*Pausanias\*, iii. 65.\] - [Previous: c10.395](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.395) - [Next: c10.397](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.397) - [Up: c10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.396](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.396) · Pramāṇa