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=== Etymology === [[File:Japanese Chestnut01.jpg|thumb|Female chestnut flowers]] [[File:Japanese Chestnut02.jpg|thumb|Male chestnut flowers]] The name "chestnut" is derived from an earlier English term "chesten nut", which descends from the Old French word ''chastain'' (Modern French, ''châtaigne'').<ref>{{OEtymD|chestnut}}</ref> The French word in turn derives from [[Latin]] ''Castanea'' (also the scientific name of the tree), which traces to the [[Ancient Greek]] word κάστανον (sweet chestnut).<ref name=rhs>''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. By A. Huxley ed. 1992. Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-47494-5}}.</ref> A possible source of the Greek word is the ancient town of [[Casthanaea]] in [[Ancient Magnesia|Magnesia]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TGIaAAAAYAAJ "Essai monographique sur le châtaignier", Édouard Lamy, 1860 p.4].</ref> Its location is at the modern village of [[Keramidi]].<ref>{{Cite Barrington|55}}</ref><ref>{{Cite DARE|29372}}</ref> The town probably took its name, though, from the trees growing around it.<ref name=2020site/> In the Mediterranean climate zone, chestnut trees are rarer in Greece because the chalky soil is not conducive to the tree's growth. Kastania is located on one of the relatively few sedimentary or siliceous outcrops. They grow so abundantly there that their presence would have determined the place's name.<ref name="Chestnuts">{{cite journal|last1=Fauve-Chamoux|first1=Antoinette|title=Chestnuts|journal=Cambridge World History of Food|date=2000|volume=1|pages=359–364|url=http://www.omnilogos.com/2015/06/chestnuts.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620184030/http://www.omnilogos.com/2015/06/chestnuts.html|archive-date=2015-06-20|doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521402149.036|isbn=9781139058636}}</ref> Still others take the name as coming from the Greek name of ''Sardis glans'' (Sardis acorn) – [[Sardis]] being the capital of [[Lydia]], Asia Minor, from where the fruit had spread.<ref name=hagen>[https://books.google.com/books?id=g8YSB2K9d1oC&dq=%22Sardis+glans%22&pg=PA51 The Meaning of Trees]. By Fred Hageneder, Chronicle Books – Nature. 2005.</ref> The name is cited twice in the [[King James Version]] of the Bible. In one instance, Jacob puts peeled twigs in the water troughs to promote healthy offspring of his livestock.<ref name=veg>[http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch211.html Vegetarians in Paradise].</ref> Although it may indicate another tree, it indicates the fruit was a local staple food in the early 17th century.<ref name=2020site>[http://www.2020site.org/trees/chestnut.html Chestnut Tree].</ref> These [[synonym (taxonomy)|synonym]]s are or have been in use: ''Fagus Castanea'' (used by Linnaeus in first edition of ''Species Plantarum'', 1753),<ref name=linnaeus>[https://www.jstor.org/pss/2476888 ''On the Name of the American Chestnut'']. By Geo. B. Sudworth. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 19, No. 5 (May 5, 1892), pp. 152–154 (article consists of 3 pages). Published by: Torrey Botanical Society.</ref> Sardian nut, Jupiter's nut, husked nut, and Spanish chestnut (U.S.).<ref name=botanical>[http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/cheswe59.html ''A Modern Herbal'']. By Mrs. M. Grieve.</ref>
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