quince [ME] Quince was originally the plural form of the singular coyn (also found as quyne) respelled from forms such as quynse. This was a borrowing of Old French cooin (modern French coing), which came from Latin (malum) cotoneum, a variant of malum Cydonium ‘Cydonian apple’, Cydonia, in this case, being the city in Crete now called Chania.