cucumber: [14] English acquired this word as cucumer, by direct borrowing from Latin cucumer, which may originally have been a word of some pre-Italic Mediterranean language. The form spelled with a b did not appear until the 15th century. It seems to have been a blend of Middle English cucumer and Old French coucombre, which itself ultimately derived from Latin cucumer. Spellings based on the Old French form led to a pronunciation of the first syllable as ‘cow’, which persisted until the early 19th century. [cucumber etymology, cucumber origin, 英语词源]