Emily Dickinson Lexicon

QUINCE, n. [quins; Fr. coin or coing; Arm. aval-couign, the cornered apple or wedge-apple; G. quitte or quittenapfel, which seems to be a different word, and rather allied to the L. cydonius.]

The fruit of the Cydonia vulgaris, so named from Cydonia, a town of Crete, famous for abounding with this fruit. One species of this fruit is of an oblong shape, from which probably it has its French name.