Re:A Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Cent...
by perilunar on Friday March 30, 2018 @10:57AM
(#16716593)
From the Wikipedia article you linked to:
"The name Pawpaw or Papaw, first recorded in print in English in 1598,[8] originally meant the giant herb Carica papaya or its fruit (as it still commonly does in many English-speaking communities, including Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa). According to Douglas Harper's Online Etymology Dictionary, it began to be used [presumably in North America] "from 1760 to designate the papaw tree" [meaning not Carica papaya but Asimina triloba]."
So the original pawpaw is papaya, and the American pawpaw is the imposter.
"The name Pawpaw or Papaw, first recorded in print in English in 1598,[8] originally meant the giant herb Carica papaya or its fruit (as it still commonly does in many English-speaking communities, including Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa). According to Douglas Harper's Online Etymology Dictionary, it began to be used [presumably in North America] "from 1760 to designate the papaw tree" [meaning not Carica papaya but Asimina triloba]."
So the original pawpaw is papaya, and the American pawpaw is the imposter.