Meanings
plural cucurbitas
- alternativeAlternative form of cucurbit (plant).
“But where can I get the gourds—I beg your pardon, the cucurbitas?’
1895 April 24, W. M. W. VanNess, “Vases”, in The Herald and Presbyter: A Presbyterian Family Paper, volume LVI, number 17, Cincinnati, Ohio, page 262 more examples
To the gourd growers and potters reaching America, would not the most obvious candidate in this strange botanical world be the most gourdlike plant, hence the cucurbitas? The suggestion has been made that the earliest use of the cucurbitas was for their seeds.
1977, George F. Carter, “A Hypothesis Suggesting a Single Origin of Agriculture”, in Charles A. Reed, editor, Origins of Agriculture, The Hague; Paris: Mouton Publishers, →ISBN, section two (Worldwide Concepts), page 123There are some registrations that associate the cucurbitas to the origin of the agriculture and the civilization. They are also among the first species of plants to be domesticated. Some evidences showed that the mixture of cucurbitas, corn, and beans was the nutritional base of the pre-Columbian civilizations (Withaker and Bemis, 1975).
2019, Marina F. de-Escalada-Pla, Silvia K. Flores, Adriana P. Castellanos-Fuentes, Carolina E. Genevois, edited by Alexandru Grumezescu and Alina Maria Holban, Value-Added Ingredients and Enrichments of Beverages (The Science of Beverages; volume 14), Woodhead Publishing, →ISBN, section 2 (C. moschata Tissue as Raw Material for Functional Food and Ingredient Development), page 207
Cite this entry
cucurbita. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cucurbita
“cucurbita.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cucurbita. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cucurbita,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cucurbita.
Source: cucurbita on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.