The word “_raisin_” as spelled and pronounced to-day, is not of very
ancient origin, but rather a corruption and evolution of older words,
both spelled and pronounced differently. Thus Falstaff replies to Prince
Hal: “If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man
a reason upon compulsion” (Henry IV, Act II, scene 4). Also, Cooper, in
his dictionary of 1685, indicates that “_raisin_” and “_reason_” are of
identical sounds. The derivation of the word has, again, been very
variously suggested either from “red” or “rose” color, connecting it
with the German and Danish word “_rosine_;” and it has even been
suggested that the word was derived from the fact that the raisins were
cured in the “rays” of the sun. The true derivation, however, is from
the Latin word “_racemus_,” meaning a bunch or cluster. Richardson, who
first points out this derivation, quotes: “Whether a reisyn (E. V.
graap, _racemus_) of Effraym is not better than the vindages of Abiezer”
(Wicliffe Judges VIIJ, 2). “And there shall be left in it as a rasyn”
(E. V., braunches of a cluster). Marginal note, “A rasyn is a lytil bow
with a lytil fruit” (Idem. Is., XVIJ., 6). But we have much older
testimony of this derivation being the correct one. An old document
states that, in 1265 A. D., the Countess of Leicester paid in London
twelve shillings for fourteen pounds, or, as the statement reads in
Latin, “_Pro uno fraello racemorum_;” which, translated, would be, “for
one frail of bunches.” The evolution of the Latin word _racemus_ was
thus seen to have been accomplished rapidly enough; but, on account of
the illiteracy of the olden times, it was spelled and pronounced
promiscuously. Thus we meet with such spellings as “_reysyns_,” in 1266;
“_reysons_,” in 1447 (“Russell’s Book of Nurture”). In 1554 the
_Stationers’ Company_ in London paid twopence for one pound of “_greate
reasons_;” while Andrew Borde, in his “Dietary” of 1542, says that
“_great raysens be nutrytyve, specyally yf the stones be pulled out_.”
In 1578 Dodoens speaks of dried raysens. In 1685 the word “raisin” is
used and spelled as in our days, and from that time on the different
spellings were used, if not promiscuously, still without any great
uniformity. The term of “greate raysens” was introduced to distinguish
them from the smaller raisins, or currants. In our own days, the latter
is seldom classed or alluded to as a “raisin” proper, although it,
strictly speaking, should be considered as such. The tendency at present
in California is to make the distinction between “raisins” and “dried
grapes,” meaning by the former certain varieties of grapes which have
been skillfully dried and cured, and which are superior in taste,
flavor, thinness of skin and saccharine matter. “Dried grapes,” again,
are simply any kind of grape, especially wine-grapes, which have only
been dried, and which have not undergone that skillful treatment which
the grape-grower is so proud of, and justly enough designates as
“curing.” They are an outgrowth from the late efforts of the French wine
merchants to make genuine French wine out of anything that is sweet, and
as they are immensely preferable to beets, potatoes and glucose, they
will always be in demand.
With the above definition of the “raisin” accepted, we can proceed to
consider their different varieties, their names and derivations. The old
designations of the different varieties were derived from the places
where they were produced, without special reference to the grapes from
which the raisins were made. Thus we had Malagas, Currants, Valencias,
Denias, Turkish and Italian raisins. But since it has been found that
the same kinds of raisins have been produced in very different
localities, and that some localities can produce all the different
kinds, a new division has been found necessary. Thus, disregarding the
many various brands with which this and other markets are flooded, the
following different varieties of raisins will be found the principal
ones: _Currants_, _Muscatels_, _Dipped_ and _Sultana_.