Lemon-Lime confusion in Brazil
Back in my England days there was one thing you could almost always rely on: somewhere in my fridge you would find half a lemon. Always half a lemon. When you have a whole lemon, there are all kinds of uses (for half of it) – squeeze it over some fish, slice it for drinks, the list goes on… But what about the other half? That would sit in my fridge for days, slowly shrinking and shrivelling and becoming increasingly useless.
Here in Brazil things are different – we have limes! Aren’t limes great? Not only do they have an amazingly fragrant, tangy, zingy flavour, but they are just the right size! You won’t find half a lime in my Brazilian fridge.
But what about lemons? Here in Brazil (in Rio at least) they seem to be very rare. After learning that the Portuguese for lime is limão, I wondered what the word for lemon was. The answer? Limão. Huh? “You use the same word for both lemons and limes?” I asked incredulously. It was like the moment I found out that Portuguese (and Spanish) uses the same word for fingers and toes! (Dedos).
Well, that is the simple answer anyway. In fact there is a way to distinguish between your limões (and your dedos). You get specific.
Apparently these limes are from Tahiti! Well, I guess the variety is at least. These particularly large and firm limes are very handy if you want to make yourself a decent-sized caipirinha - the extra juice will ensure that you can still walk after you've polished it off.
A Sicilian Lime! And check out the difference in price! R$ 1.49 for a kilo of limes, R$ 8.39 for a kilo of lemons!! Price and prestige often go hand-in-hand don't they. Here in Brazil, a caipirinha made with limes is just a standard drink. But if you have it with Limão Siciliano? Now you've got a fancy drink!
What? So there *is* a different name for lemons! And that word (Lima) looks a lot like the word "lime". How confusing! I should really do a taste-test to see what the difference is between Lima da Persia and Limão Siciliano - they look quite similar don't you think?
So, to recap, the short answer is that there is one word in Portuguese which covers lemons and limes (limão). The long answer is that there are different words that cover different varieties of citrus fruit that come in a variety of different colours!
Interestingly, the French word for lime is Citron Vert, literally ‘Green Lemon’. I guess that reflects the dominance of the lemon over the lime in Europe. And in case you were wondering, the solution for distinguishing between fingers and toes is simpler than the citrus situation. Fingers are Dedos and toes are Dedos dos pés – foot fingers!
I remember having to think twice about this when I first learned it!
My students get a kick out of the fact that we use “toast” for the bread variety and for the “raise-a-glass-in-honor-of-somebody” thing. One of them once said, “Portuguese doesn’t have any words like that!” and I replied, “Oh yeah? What about MANGA (the fruit) and MANGA (your shirtsleeve)?”
Here’s an interesting list of the ones in English:
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-emmw.html
Manga is a funny one isn’t it? Of course many people know about the Japanese comics/animation, but I also read recently that Manga means “cool dude” in Greek!
The one I found/find strangest (in Portuguese) is Esperar. The same word for “wait”, “hope” and “expect”? Nuts! ;)
It is good to see that list, just to remind myself that English has it’s fair share of weirdness too!
And how about Calca (the noun meaning pants), and Calcar (the verb which conjugates to Ele/Ela Calca and means to wear)? And same with Bota/Botar.
Hey Samantha! Wow, I never thought about bota/botar! And I’m ashamed to admit that even after all these years, I wasn’t really aware of calçar meaning ‘to wear’ :-/
A post written by an Englishman focusing on limes. The setup is too blatant: it must be a trap. I’m going to sidestep this one.
Oh, I thought this would interest your evil mind. :-)
http://www.economist.com/comment/1442099#comment-1442099
It sure captured mine.
May the best man win (me).
What connection between the English and limes could you mean? It is because we are in the limelight right now because of the Olympics and Queen’s diamond jubliee?
RE the caption competition, I’m not too good at pithy one-limers…
Y-orchiding-me with the pithy one-limers.
Hello Tom!
I have been reading your blog for about 2 months now and I find it very interesting and entertaining. I am Brazilian and really enjoy learning about my country and city from the perpective of someone that was not born here. It is fascinating. Anyway about lime and lemons.
Lime = lima
lemon = limão
Cheers! :o)
Hi Katia!
Bem vinda! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the blog – I enjoy your country/city very much, so it seems like a good deal to me :)
But now you’ve confused me even more! ;) In England, we call the small green ones limes and the larger yellow ones lemons. Are you saying the small green ones are called limas? [confused face]
Maybe I should just stick to bananas – no confusion there. Oh wait… :D
Hi Tom :o)
Wow! now I’m even more confused than you! For me (and I imagine for most Brazilians) The small green ones are our everyday lemon and the large yellow ones are limes. Are you telling me it is the other way round?
Cheers :o)
Hmmm, I guess I am saying that Katia! :) Certainly we call the large yellow ones lemons. But in England at least, those are the “everyday” ones. I guess the small green ones (limes) are quite common now, but when I was a kid they were quite uncommon. I still think of limes as being a little bit exotic!!
You really are confused in Brasil. :) In Portugal we have lemons – limões – large and yellow, and limes – limas – small, green, round and exotic
Ha ha ha! That seems so logical! Why must it be so complicated here?! ;)
Katia’s wrong unfortunally. I’m brazilian (I actually live in Rio) and the article is right: “lime” is the word to reffer to our “limão”, the green and round one. The yellow fruit that we barely see in Brazil except in some fancy supermarkets is “lemon”, which we brazilians call “lima” or “limão siciliano”.
tl;dr:
Lime = limão
lemon = lima / limão siciliano.
Thanks Tony! The confusion is real for many it seems! ;) My current favourite citrus fruit is a Dekopon, which you can sometimes see for sale in the fancy Hortifruti stores. Totally yummy! :)
Exato! And with limão we make limonada ! :)
Hum! Limonada Suiça <3 Though currently it's so cold in Rio that I would be more interested in quentão!
I like Limes better anyway. And I’m sorry, but a lemon caipirinha is just blasphemy. ;)
Alex, I’m with you one this – I prefer the flavour of limes for sure. And when I see a lemon caipirinha, I just think how weird it is that lemons seem to be fancy here. Maybe I should be sticking up for the Euro-lemon, but I limes win for me every time. Lemons should be elemonated…
Hi Tom,
As you said, “limão taiti” is “lime” (or persian lime, “Citrus latifolia” is the species).
And “limão siciliano” is “lemon” (“citrus limon” is the species).
I hope this helps.
Andrea
Portuguese also uses “limao amarelo” for lemon. Lima da persia is a very different fruit: watery and slightly bitter. Makes a nice caipiroska… :)
Thanks to everyone for your help! I think between you all, you have cleared this one up for me.
Looking again at the Lima da Persia box, I think some naughty scamp has put a lemon (limão Siciliano) in to confuse things further! :)
Tom,
Além do limão tahiti e do limão siciliano você encontra na feira também o limão galego (pequeno e cor de laranja) e o limão cravo (que é uma mistura de tangerina e limão).
Na minha opinião, o limão galego faz a melhor caipirinha e o limão cravo é ótimo para temperar peixes.
Eri
Uau! Nunca ouvi destas frutas! Estou animado para experimentar. Valeu Eri! :)
I just had to comment because lime and lemons are a source of confusion for me as a Brazilian as well. To simplify limao = lime (green) and lima = lemon (yellow). But then you have limao galelo (my favourite btw, I have a tree in my house in Brazil – and it’s yellow and very aromatic) and no matter how many times I practice I call all of them (green and yellow alike) ‘Lemon’… that makes all ozzies go ‘WHUT’?
Ha ha, well I’m glad to see it’s not just me that gets confused about these things!
Google claims that “lima” is actually “lime” in PT, but I’m guessing it means European PT! Also, foot fingers, LOL!
“Verdes são os campos
“De cor de limão:
“Assim são os olhos
“Do meu coração.”
—Luís Vaz de Camões
Aw, lovely! <3
Hi! I think your lemmon here in Brazil is limão siciliano. :)