Hazelnut fruit has been eaten by people in ancient era and its nutritive value has been appreciated.With the growth and expansion of trade in the Mediterranean region, it became a fortune, and abundance of soul.

Hazelnut found a world-wide field of growth and became a demanded product.

It became a source of livelihood for families with many small business involved with agriculture. Later, it has been placed in areas of imports and exports.

It was placed on human life in such a way that it has been mentioned in literature from the past until today, the folklore, the dictionary, the travel, and even in medicine.Thus, hazelnut has become one of indispensable products of humanbeings.

Benefited from various sources, this thesis is made in order to inform about hazelnut's development throughout history, its types, and production areas. The aim is to clarify the richness of the history of the hazelnut.

Introduction

In our country, hazelnut plant, as having an important place in the protection of the economic, social and natural resources, are included in flowering plants (spermatophyta = phanerogamae), off to seedy (Angiospermae) sub-branches, in dicotyledonous (Dicotyledonae) class, free of leafy crown (Choripetalae) sub-class, and mantolu group, kayýngiller (Fagales) team, huþgiller (Betulaceae) Family of fýndýkgiller (Corylus) kinds.

Hazelnut covers the temperate climate zones of the northern half of the sphere from Japan, China, Manchuria, Russia, Turkey, Europe and  to North America in its wild forms. The date of receipt of the hazelnuts to the culture is based 2500 years before. 400 years before Jesus in the North Anatolia, in Pontus Euxinus (Kerasus) (Giresun), Enophen talks about a small fruit known as Pontus Yemiþi. As the result of the traces of this ancient culture, Black Sea region of our country is considered as the homeland of hazelnuts. This fruit has been traded since 600 years. There are 16 types of hazelnut cultivations in our country. In addition to this, Giresun has developed 7 more candidates in the Hazelnut Research Institute.

Culture hazelnuts, from Northern Anatolia, are first taken to Greece and then to Italy, and around the city in this country, Avella, an important type of hazelnut  took its name Corylus Avellana L. from this region. The Arabs has reached to Sicily and to Spain with their hands, and in France it was seen as an important culture plant. In the United States, the cultivation of hazelnuts in the last 70 years has improved, and supported by strong research and development programs.

Hazelnut Throughout History

Hazelnut in World Languages

The linguistic information about the word "hazelnut" obtained from the world dictionary is taken below:

The word Hazelnut (Pontus Walnut), comes from Greek meaning Pontikon Karyon. Romaic of Leptokarion (fine walnut) means hazelnut in public language. Although it is Chen-tse or Chen-li in Chinese, its scientific name is (Corlyus heterophylla, Fýsch).

Counterparts of "Hazelnut" in Main European Languages:

Hint - i: Qos(e)lo; Lazd

Germens: Hasl

Sweden, Norway: Hassel

Old German: Hasal

German: Hassel, Hasselnuss

Anglosaxons: Haesel

English: Hazel, Hazelnut

Turkish: Fýndýk

Dutch: Hazelaar

American: Filberts

Latin:

Latin: Corulus, Corylus

Old French: Avelaine

French: Noisette

Ýtalian: Nucciola

Spanish: Avellana

Portuguese: Avella

Romanian: Aluna

Slavian:

Russian: Liesnoy oreh

Polonaise: Leszczyna

Czech: Liska

Serbian: Leska

Bulgarian: Leþnik

Baltics:

Old Persian: Laxde

Litvanian: Lazd'a

Finnish: Pahkina

Hungarian: Mogyoro