pumpkin

A pumpkin is a vernacular and typical term for a cultivated orange and round mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus Cucurbita that has culinary and cultural significance but there is no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning, and depending on the vernacular, its color and shape may vary. The term pumpkin is sometimes used interchangeably with "squash" or "winter squash", and is commonly used for some cultivars of Cucurbita argyrosperma, Cucurbita ficifolia, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, and Cucurbita pepo. Native to North America (northeastern Mexico and the southern United States), C. pepo pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants, having been used as early as 7,000 to 5,500 BC. Today, pumpkins of varied species and cultivars are widely grown for food, as well as for aesthetic and cultural uses. The pumpkin's thick shell contains edible seeds and pulp. Pumpkin pie, for instance, is a traditional part of Thanksgiving meals in Canada and the United States, and pumpkins are frequently used as autumnal seasonal decorations and carved as jack-o'-lanterns for decoration around Halloween, although commercially canned pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie fillings are usually made of different pumpkin varieties from those used for jack-o'-lanterns. Etymology and terminology According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English word pumpkin derives from the Ancient Greek word (romanized ), meaning 'melon'. Under this theory, the term transitioned through the Latin word and the Middle French word to the Early Modern English , which was changed to pumpkin by 17th-century English colonists, shortly after encountering pumpkins upon their arrival in what is now the northeastern United States. There is a proposed alternate derivation for pumpkin from the Massachusett word , meaning 'grows forth round'. This term could have been used by the Wampanoag people (who speak the dialect of Massachusett) when introducing pumpkins to English Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony, located in present-day Massachusetts. (The English word squash is derived from a Massachusett word, variously transcribed as , , or, in the closely related Narragansett language, .)