NECTAR and AMBROSIA are the nourishment of the gods in Homer and in Greek literature generally. The gods resemble men in all respects except that they have different food and drink. Usage varies much as to the exact meaning of the two terms. Probably they were not originally distinguished; but usually both in Homer and in later writers nectar is the drink and ambrosia the food. On the other hand in Aleman nectar is the food, and in Sappho and Anaxandrides ambrosia the drink. Each is used in Homer as an unguent (nectar, II. xix. 30; ambrosia, II. xiv. 170). Both are fragrant, and may be used as perfume. The derivation of the word nectar is uncertain; probably w/ydreos is a kindred word. Ambrosia is derived from αμ∕3poτoς, immortal.
NECTARINE, a fruit differing from the peach in having a smooth or glabrous skin instead of a downy one. The varieties of nectarine, too, have often a distinct flavour from that of the peaches. The common origin of the peach and nectarine is shown, however, by the facts that seeds of the one will often reproduce the other, and that fruits of both kinds have not unfrequently been met with on the same branch. For cultivation see Horticulture, vol. xii. p. 272.
