Why is a oak tree?

Question

called a oak tree instead of a acorn tree? Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

Oak (eik) means "tree" in Old Norse, while acorn (akarn) means nut.

Proof:
There were no oaks in scandinavia so it must mean tree.
Acorn used by lower GP's (english) as food for swine when there was no corn (swine are ussually fed corn) hence Oak-Corn. Acorn...

Answer 2

You mean because peach trees have peaches, apple trees have apples, cherry trees have cherries?

Oak 1
Definition: Any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus. The oaks have alternate leaves, often variously lobed, and staminate flowers in catkins. The fruit is a smooth nut, called an acorn, which is more or less inclosed in a scaly involucre called the cup or cupule. There are now recognized about three hundred species, of which nearly fifty occur in the United States, the rest in Europe, Asia, and the other parts of North America, a very few barely reaching the northern parts of South America and Africa. Many of the oaks form forest trees of grand proportions and live many centuries. The wood is usually hard and tough, and provided with conspicuous medullary rays, forming the silver grain.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak

a·corn (ā'kôrn', ā'kərn)
n.
The fruit of an oak, consisting of a single-seeded, thick-walled nut set in a woody, cuplike base.

[Middle English akorn, from Old English æcern.]

WORD HISTORY A thoughtful glance at the word acorn might produce the surmise that it is made up of oak and corn, especially if we think of corn in its sense of “a kernel or seed of a plant,” as in peppercorn. The fact that others thought the word was so constituted partly accounts for the present form acorn. Here we see the workings of the process of linguistic change known as folk etymology, an alteration in form of a word or phrase so that it resembles a more familiar term mistakenly regarded as analogous. Acorn actually goes back to Old English æcern, “acorn,” which in turn goes back to the Indo-European root *ōg–, meaning “fruit, berry.”

from: http://www.answers.com/topic/acorn?cat=biz-fin

Oak trees were known as quercus to the Romans; ;the only thing I can surmise is that "acorn" is a generic term for "fruit", especially for such fruits as, well, an "acorn".

Answer 3

It is actually called AN Oak Tree, not a Oak tree.
Does that help?
How about this....would it make sense to call a Pine Tree a Cone Tree?

Answer 4

They're obviously named for the leaves. The question is, why aren't acorns called "oak seeds"?

Answer 5

I guess someone just decided to call it that? They had to pick names for acorns as well. Maybe oak meant strong?

Answer 6

I guess for the same reason your not called a zygote growth. The tree is more than the acorn. Most things are not identified by their offspring or seeds.

Answer 7

Hello. All the answers are correct except you did not mention the type of mulch you used. Many mulch products purchased contain chemicals or other additives. Pine mulch can change the ph level of the soil over time. Mulch can also become a home to insects and bacteria that affect the tree. My advise is a thin layer of a mulch that is native to your part of the country. If you are going for a design principle, try looking into a synthetic mulch.

Answer 8

because the acorn is the fruit of the tree, not the tree

Answer 9

Don't worry if your job seems small or your rewards are few.
Remember that the Mighty Oak was once a nut like you.

*smile*

Answer 10

Because they look like oak, smell like oak & taste like oak.
Duhh!