ABSTRACT
The avocado, Persea americana (Mill.), apparently originated in the region from Mexico through Central America 31 . Kopp 19 reduced the probable area of origin to a Chiapas-Guatemala-Honduras center. The Spanish conquest found the fruit being widely consumed from Mexico south to Peru. The Aztec name ahuacatl became the Spanish aguacate — the general appellation in post-conquistador Mexico and Central America. This, in turn, was modified to the English avocado and to similar words in other European languages, such as avocat in French and abogado in European Spanish. Other avocado-growing regions developed their own local names, notably palta along the west coast of South America, and custard apple in West Africa. English-speaking consumers in different parts of the world often referred to them as “pears”, from the similarity of their usual shape and color to the deciduous fruit; this was sometimes given the distinguishing modifier “alligator” pear. Indeed, for a time, there was a debate concerning the preferred English designation, among avocado, alligator pear, and aguacate, with the first-listed triumphing and now accepted nearly universally.
