fruit salad, macédoine
Macedonia is the name of a European country located in the Balkans. The word macedonia1 derived from it probably2 as a reference to the mixture of peoples in the Empire of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great.
Macedonia is also used figuratively to describe a medley of different items. In particular, a parola macedonia (portmanteau word) is a word that results from blending the sounds and meanings of two others. An example is brunch, which comes from blending breakfast and lunch.
My mother used to make macedonia fairly often in the summer. She would use a bit of sugar and some freshly-squeezed lemon juice to season the fruit, never any alcohol, though the latter is certainly an option. Both my father and my brother have problems handling the fuzzy skin of peaches, so making macedonia is a way of providing them with the fruit they like minus the pesky part. In fact, the most common version of macedonia my mother makes has only peaches, apricots and bananas.
Macedonia can be turned into a sumptuous dessert with the addition of whipped cream (macedonia con la panna) or ice cream (macedonia col gelato).
1 The coinage is French: the Italian word derived from the French word macédoine.
2 The qualifier is in the dictionary I consulted and I accidentally omitted it in the original version of the post: apologies to the early readers.
Hear me pronounce the words on the macedonia audio file [mp3] or go to the macedonia audio page for more listening options.
