Product Code Database
A pearmain, also formerly spelled "permain", is a type of apple. The name may once have been applied to a particular variety of apple that kept well, although in more modern times its inclusion in varietal names was, like the term 'Pippin', "largely decoration"Smith, A. W. (1963) A Gardener's Handbook of Plant Names: Their Meanings and Origins, p.40 rather than indicating any shared qualities.
The original 'Pearmain' variety has not been conclusively identified and may now be extinct.
Other sources suggest that the name "pearmain" was in fact originally used for a type of pear, and was first applied to apples only during the 16th century.Ayto (2012) The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink, OUP, p.400 It has been suggested the word was derived from Old French pearmain and possibly ultimately from Latin parmensia "of Parma", though the latter is probably folk etymology.
The third and most likely derivation, by the philologist Ernest Weekley, also suggests the term was originally applied to pears, but that it came from Middle English parmain, permain, derived from Old French parmaindre "to endure", and referred to the long keeping qualities of some varieties.Weekley (1921) An etymological dictionary of modern English, v2, p.1057 Rejecting the etymology from parmensia, Weekley noted that 17th-century references to a "pompire" or "pyramalum" (i.e. an "apple-pear") suggested that the original 'Pearmain' apple was named for some quality associated with the pearmain pear; i.e. hardness and long keeping ability.Weekley (1926) Words Ancient and Modern, J. Murray, p.82
Pearmain apple cultivars from EnglandRobert Hogg, The Fruit Manual, 1875
Pearmain cultivars from Germany
By contrast, Hogg believed the apple identified in some catalogues of the time as 'Old Pearmain' to in fact be a variety called 'Royal Pearmain'.Hogg (1851), p.175 Hogg later claimed to have identified the "true Old Pearmain" growing in the Dymock area.Hogg (1884) The Fruit Manual, p.169 The current 'Old Pearmain' in the National Fruit Collection was received in 1924 from a Mr. Kelsey in Surrey, but is probably neither Hogg's variety nor the ancient 'Pearmain'.Morgan and Richards (2002) The New Book of Apples, Ebury, p.248
'Pearmain' cultivars
Shape: C = Conical, Ob = Oblong, Ov = Ovate, R = Round, COb = Conical oblong, ROv = Roundish ovate, ROb = Roundish oblate, ObOv = Oblongovate
Of uncertain origin
Pearmain apple cultivars from AmericaWarder, American PomologyDowning, Fruits and Fruit-Trees of America, 1885
Present status of 'Old Pearmain' variety
There have been many efforts to identify the original 'Pearmain' apple, of supposedly mediaeval origin. Hogg suggested the 'Winter Pearmain' to be the original, and synonymous with the 'Old Pearmain', though S. A. Beach, in his work Apples of New York, noted that "several different varieties" had been propagated in America and England under the name 'Winter Pearmain' and that in many descriptions "it is impossible to determine which Winter Pearmain the writer had in mind".Beach, S. A. (1905) The Apples of New York, v2, p.379
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