Forms: α. 4 (raysons of) Coraunte, 5 (reysyns, etc., of) Corance, -awnce, -auns, -ence, -ent, -ons, -ouns, 5–6 -aunce, 6 -ans, -ens, 6–7 (raisins of) Corinth. β. Pl. (or collective): 6 coraunce, corints, currents, 6–7 -ance, -antes, corans, corantes, (corinthes), 6–8 currans, 7 -ence, -ains, -ands, corants, -ents, -ins, corrans, -ands, -ants, (7–9 corinths), 6– currants. Sing. 6 coren, 7 corin, coran, curren, current, 7–8 curran, (corinth, 8 curan), 7– currant. [Orig. raisins of Corauntz, AF. raisins de Corauntz, = F. raisins de Corinthe raisins of Corinth; reduced before 1500 to corauntz, coraunce, whence the later corantes, currants, and corans, currence, currans (found in literature to c. 1750, and still dial.). Some of the 16th-c. herbalists restored the original form Corinth, which has been affected by some writers down to the 19th c.]
1. The raisin or dried fruit prepared from a dwarf seedless variety of grape, grown in the Levant; much used in cookery and confectionery. (Familiarly distinguished from 2 as grocers’ or shop currants.)
† a. Raisins of Corauntz, Corinth, etc. Obs.
[1334. in Rogers, Agric. & Prices, II. 545. Raisins de Corauntz.]
c. 1390[?]. Form of Cury, in Warner, Antiq. Culin., 6. Lat it seeth togedre with powdor-fort of gynger … with raysons of coraunte [printed corannte].
1463. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 217. Item, ffor vj. li. reysonys off corawnce, xviij. d.
1471. Marg. Paston, Lett., No. 681, III. 25. Sende me word qwat price a li. of … reysonys of Corons.
1562. Bulleyn, Bk. Compounds, 27 a. Take … of Raisons of Corans picked.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, V. lxxxi. 652. The smal Raysens which are commonly called Corantes, but more rightly Raysens of Corinthe.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 122. The small Raisins of Corinth, which we commonly call Currants.
β. Corauntz, currence, currants, currant, etc.
a. 1502. in Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 234. Coraunce, at i. d’. ob’.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 14. Item for a butte of currantes, iii.s. iiii.d.
1578. [see α].
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. 165. The plant that beareth the coren.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iii. 40. Three pound of Sugar, fiue pound of Currence, Rice.
1628. trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., II. (1688), 235. Grapes of Corinth or Currants.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 205. A Prune, a Raisin, or a Curran.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XIII. 293, note. The chief riches of the island [Zant] consist in Corinths.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 50. Breakfast … on Water gruel with Currants.
1748. Mrs. S. Harrison, House-kpr.’s Pocket-Bk., i. (ed. 4), 2. I suppose you have Currans, Raisons, and Sugars.
1811. Pinkerton, Petral., II. 115. A plumb-pudding, composed of flour with raisins and corinths.
1859. Thackeray, Virgin., xxxiii. Had I not best go out and order raisins and corinths for the wedding-cake?
1860. Mrs. Harvey, Cruise Claymore, 271. Of late years the currant has been much more extensively grown in the neighbourhood of Corinth.
2. Transferred to the small round berry of certain species of Ribes (R. nigrum, R. rubrum) called Black and Red Currants. (The White Currant is a variety of the Red.)
These shrubs, natives of Northern Europe, were introduced into English cultivation some time before 1578, when they are mentioned by Lyte as the Black and Red ‘Beyond sea Gooseberry.’ They were vulgarly believed at first to be the source of the Levantine currant; Lyte calls them ‘Bastarde Currant,’ and both Gerarde and Parkinson protested against the error of calling them ‘currants.’
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, VI. xx. 683. The first kinde is called … Ribes rubrum; in English Redde Gooseberries, Bastard Corinthes.
1629. Parkinson, Paradisus Terr., 558. Those berries … usually called red currans are not those currans … that are sold at the Grocers.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, I. v. § 12. Goosberries and Currans. Ibid. (1677), Anat. Fruits, iv. § 6. A White Corin, without taking off the Skin, sheweth not unpleasantly how the Seeds are fastned.
1708. J. Philips, Cyder, II. 61. Now will the Corinths, now the rasps supply Delicious draughts.
1799. trans. H. Meister’s Lett., 181. Tartlets of raspberries, currants, and gooseberries.
1869. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 178. Black and Red Currants belong to the same genus as Gooseberry.
b. The shrub that produces this fruit (more fully currant-bush, currant-tree); also other shrubs of the same genus, as the Flowering Currant, R. sanguineum, a native of North America, cultivated for its deep crimson flowers.
1665–76. Ray, Flora, 223. Corinthes or currans, as they are vulgarly called, are plants well known.
1783. Johnson, 18 April, in Boswell. I would plant a great many currants; the fruit is good.
1866. Treas. Bot., 982. R[ibes] sanguineum, the Red-flowered Currant, a native of North America, is … frequently grown in our gardens for ornamental purposes.
3. Applied to various shrubs having fruit (usually edible) resembling that of Ribes.
1866. Treas. Bot., 363. Australian Currant, Leucopogon Richei. Indian C., an American name for Symphoricarpus vulgaris. Native C., of Tasmania, a name applied to some species of Coprosma. Ibid., 674. Leptomeria Billardieri is a pretty broom-like shrub … producing greenish-red berries, which are called Native Currants in New South Wales and Victoria; they have a pleasant acid taste…. The fruit of another species, L. acerba, is also called Currants in Australia.
1884. Miller, Plant-n., W. Indian Currant, Jacquinia armillaris, Beureria havanensis, and B. succulenta.… Indian Currant bush, of Tropical America, the genera Miconia and Clidemia.
4. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 1) currant-bun, -cake, -grape, -vine; (sense 2) currant-bush (see also 3), -jelly, -tree, -wine; currant-borer, -clearwing, the clearwing moth Ægeria tipuliformis and its larva; currant-gall, a small round gall, like an unripe currant, formed on the male flowers and leaves of the oak by the insect Spathegaster baccarum; currant-moth, a kind of moth that infests currant-bushes, the Magpie-moth; currant-shrub, a shrub or acid drink made from currants; currant-worm, a larva that infests currant-bushes.
1788. Picken, Poems, 13 (Jam.). Whangs o’ *curran-buns an’ cheese.
1890. Spectator, 19 April, 532/1. To render currant-buns and plum-puddings easier of attainment.
1813. J. Forbes, Oriental Mem., II. xxv. 405. The cotton shrub … in verdure resembles the *currant-bush.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, V. iv. Ha you ne’re a *curren-but to leape into?
1681. T. Jordan, London’s Joy, in Heath, Grocers’ Comp. (1869), 545. I have dwelt in a Tub … But ne’re taught in a Currant-Butt before.
1865. J. G. Wood, Homes without H., xxv. 492. These are popularly called *Currant-galls, because they look very much like bunches of currants from which the greater part of the fruit has been removed.
1682. Wheler, Journ. Greece, I. 32. We had a present sent us of Figs, Filberds, and *Currant-grapes, then scarce ripe.
1731–7. Miller, Gard. Dict. (ed. 3), s.v. Vitis, The Corinth Grape, vulgarly called the Currant Grape: Is an early Ripener.
1858–9. Humphreys, Genera Brit. Moths, Abraxas Grossulariata, The large Magpie, or *Currant Moth.
1856. Englishw. Dom. Mag., IV. 94. How to make *Currant Shrub.
1649. Surv. Manor Wimbledon, in Archæol., X. 424 (D.). The borders of which grass plots are *coran trees.
1731. Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 263. The Stem and Leaves of these shrubs are much like those of Corinth trees.
1877. Encycl. Brit., VI. 715/1. In the Ionian Islands the *currant-vine is grown on the sides of the lower hills.
a. 1648. Digby, Closet Open. (1669), 113. *Currants-Wine, take a pound of the best currants.
