This hairy-skinned orange-yellow fruit widely grows in warm temperate countries, like Spain. Originally its tree called "prunus armenica" is native to China. It spread on the mediterranean shores shortly before the beginning of the Christian era. The Ancient Greeks supposedly tasted it beforehand as the fruit was imported from Amenia where it had most probably been introduced by the Persians. That is the reason why the Greeks used to call it Armeniakos and the tree came to be known as "Prunus Armenica". Incidentally the same word is used in dialects from Lumbardy. Then it appeared the apricot was no longer grown. The Arab conquests introduced again the apricot in the Occident. Subsequently the fruit travelled throughout Europe with different names stemming form the Arabical-burqoq. The Spaniards were the first European to taste a sweetalbaricoque as their Portuguese neighbours fancied a nicealbricoque also namedalperce ordamasco. As a matter of fact, Syria was an early producer of apricots. The product only appeared into French fruit baskets in 1526, under the name of abricot. It supposedly derived from the Portuguesealbricoque, which sounds very close, unless it was a Spanish inheritance, from albaricoque. The same fruit proceeded to fulfill German baskets as aprikose then got into Russia under a different name : aprikoç.

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