What is a pearmain?

Answer 1

A pearmain is a red apple. Worcester Pearmain is a famous example, and this was one of the parents of the modern apple "Discovery", so perhaps a Discovery could be called a Worcester Pearmain Seedling. The origin of the term was a French pear called the Permain and it is thought that this came from the Latin work for Parma in Italy, which was Parmensis. So the old French Permain pear probably meant the "Parma Pear" and must have been red skinned.