platanon.

Etymology: < Spanish plátano (1526 in G. Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés De la natural hystoria de las Indias, the source translated in quots. 1555¹, 1555²), denoting both the tree and its fruit (also as †plantano (1573–81 or earlier), †plántano (1598 or earlier)), probably transferred uses of plátano , †plantano , †plántano plane tree (see platan n. and plantain n.²), probably on account of the broad leaves which are characteristic of both plants, although the plants are otherwise dissimilar and unrelated. Compare later plantain n.³In β. forms with ending apparently remodelled after Latin nouns ending in -us (de Oviedo and d'Acosta only use the Spanish form). In the New World, the plantain or banana appears in A. Biet's Dict. des Galibis (1664 and 1763) as palatana, in R. Breton's Dict. Caraïbe (1665) as ‘Balátana, grosses bananes’, and in the Arawak language as prátane. It is more likely, however, that these words show alterations of the Spanish word, than that they reflect some indigenous South American name, as has sometimes been suggested. The Tupi name of the fruit is pa'kou̯a.