[pèsca] peach
[pésca] fishing
The local farmers' market is so full of peaches (pesche), I have to write about them. I hope it is clear from the audio snippet that the word pesca is pronounced differently to disambiguate the two meanings. The fruit of the peach tree (pesco) owes its name to ancient Persia: in fact the Latin word persica is a shortening of the whole name of the fruit mala persica, Persian apples. It appears that Prunus persica arrived in Persia from its original China and from there reached the Mediterranean. My father calls the fruit with its Latin name, in accordance with the dialect of his native village.
Peaches are simply excellent, whether eaten fresh off the tree or used as ingredients. My mother used to store peaches in glass jars and my task was to peal them, cut them in half, then place them in the jars. Then it was my mother's turn: she added sugar and water, and then sterilized the jars in a big pot of boiling water. During the year, we would eat pesche sciroppate con la panna (peach in syrup with whipped cream) for dessert on Sunday (never on another day: don't ask me why, because I have no idea).
Hear me pronounce the words on the pesca audio file [mp3] or go to the pesca audio page for more listening options.
