SC - Blackberries, OED (WAS: Summertime Cerulean ...)
Gerekr at aol.com
Gerekr at aol.com
Thu Mar 11 22:46:19 PST 1999
Well, Gerek thinks it's probably too late to throw this in, but I've done
all this typing already from the teeny tiny type of the condensed OED!
Just a suggestion to try the OED if you have access to it. I started
with "blackberry" and the number of related berry names, and the
convolutions of the alleged or denied relationships, is
staggering/hilarious!
OED: Blackberry.
1. The fruit of the bramble (Rubus fruticosus) and its varieties. This
being the commonest wild fruit in England is spoken of proverbially as
the type of what is plentiful and little prized. ca. 1000 Aelfric Gloss.
- - In Wr.-Wulcker Voc. 139 "Flani, uel mori, blaceberian."
3. Now, in the north of England and south of Scotland, the Black Currant
(Ribes nigrum) the 'blackberry' of sense 1. being there called
'Brambleberry'; formerly, in some localities the Bilberry or Blaeberry;
also, according to some, but perhaps erroneously, the sloe or fruit of
the Blackthorn. 1567 Maplet Gr. Forest....1597 Gerard, Herbal We in
England [call them] Worts, Whortleberries, Black-berries, Billberries...
I -was- going to copy in all the following entries, which are all linked
in the definitions, but time has fleeted on me...
Brambleberry
Bil(l)bery
Blaeberry
Sloe
Blackthorn
Worts
Whortleberry
Hurtleberry
Gerek's prize historical trail:
Hind (Hynd) berry (ca. 700!) (berries that grow in the forest and
are assumed to be eaten by the deer which live there) -> Rasp (Frambois)
- -> Raspberry -- So there for one source we have seen that says that
raspberries are not period.
Viking note: the most commonly occuring term for "blue" in period Norse
is "blar" and means an almost black shade of blue. And there is a berry
name "Blaber" in Old Norse, which Cleasby & Vigfusson translate as
Vaccinium; and "a(th)alblaber" as Vaccinium myrtilllus (bilberry or
whortleberry)
Chimene & Gerek
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