Language False Friends: the Case of Citron
I recently reviewed Cedro di Diamante, and thought I would share something about the star of this perfume: the citron. You see, this fruit has a confusing name for me as a non-native English speaker.

The word ‘citron’ in English comes from the Latin ‘Citrus’, which is likely derived from the Greek 'kédros', meaning cedar (the tree). In Italian, citron is called ‘cedro’ – but here’s the twist: ‘cedro’ refers to both the citrus fruit and the cedar tree. So, in Italian, it depends on the context whether you’re referring to the citrus or the tree.

Where things start to sound like a joke is that in French, ‘citron’ means lemon. In French, citron is 'cédrat' (as in Cedrat Boise). 'Cédrat' probably gave the English 'cedrate' – a rarely used name for citron.

I’d be curious to know if the same applies to other languages or other raw materials/notes!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I’ll be angrily throwing citrons at my dictionaries. Thank you for reading!
The text was written by me; images were AI-generated using Dall-E
I think there is at least a (otherwise nice)reviewer that thought that "Cédrat boisé " will be a woody cedar-base fragrance !
I didn't know that "citron" in English was "cédrat"...
You mentioned wondering whether this applies to other languages, and yes - "limón" can translate to lemon, but also lime, in Spanish!
So the duality continues @Longevity haha 🍋😅
I find it hilarious, it seems these names are confusing in a lot of languages 😂
How do you differentiate between the two? Do you say “we need to buy ‘limón verde’ for lime?
List of citrus fruits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_citrus_fruits
Citron varieties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_citrus_fruits#Citron
And great addition about blackcurrant, something else to watch out for!
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukadeboom
I can’t seem to find a Dutch translation for citron, how weird!
Thanks for stopping by :))