2472: lime & limestone Sep 18, 2021

'Lime', as in 'limestone' or just the fruit, don't have anything to do with each other. Regarding the material, this is actually related to the word 'slime', both further related to German 'schleim' (mucus), Latin 'limus' (mud) and Ancient Greek λίμνη (límnē) meaning, 'marsh'. This is later developed into words for glue—even now limestone is an ingredient in cement—and then again changed to denote the substance calcium oxide. The fruit on the other hand is from Persian لیمو‎ (līmū). This is turn is likely from the Sanskrit निम्बू (nimbū) originally meaning 'lime' but which also influenced 'lemon'.