Before the word clementine became synonymous with the citrus fruit, it was used to describe any of the fourteen popes named Clement. The fruit itself came into existence in the early twentieth century, accidentally bred in the garden of an Algerian monastery owned by French missionary Clement Rodier. Commercial cultivation of clementines began in California in 1914, and they quickly gained popularity. By the mid-1900s, they were widely available, and the term “clementine” saw a significant increase in usage from the 1960s onwards. The name Clement means “mild in temper” and is derived from the Latin word clemens, meaning “merciful” or “calm”. This is believed to come from the Proto-Indo-European root klei, meaning “to lean”, or from the reconstruction kel, meaning “to cover”.
