Origin and history of precocious

roundish, orange-colored, plum-like fruit, 1550s, abrecock, from Catalan abercoc, related to Portuguese albricoque, from Arabic al-birquq, through Byzantine Greek berikokkia which is probably from Latin (mālum) praecoquum "early-ripening (fruit)" (see precocious). The form has been assimilated to French abricot.

Latin praecoquis early-ripe, can probably be attributed to the fact that the fruit was considered a variety of peach that ripened sooner than other peaches .... [Barnhart]

Native to the Himalayas, it was introduced in England in 1524. The older Latin name for it was prunum Armeniacum or mālum Armeniacum, in reference to supposed origin in Armenia. As a color name, by 1906.

"extremely low condition of mental function, mental incapacity," 1806, from Latin dementia "madness, insanity," literally "a being out of one's mind," from dement-, stem of demens "mad, raving" (see dement) + abstract noun suffix -ia.

It existed earlier in an Englished form, demency (1520s), from French démence. Especially in reference to senile dementia "the failure of mind which occurs in old age" (1822). Dementia praecox for what now would be called schizophrenia is a Modern Latin form recorded from 1899 in English, 1891 in German, from French démence précoce (1857). See precocious.