
Theories on the etymology of 'strawberry' - trueduke
http://blog.oup.com/2015/04/strawberry-word-origin-etymology/
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kseistrup
I always thought they had their name because we in Scandinavia collect wild
strawberries on straws. See e.g.,

[http://promenaderpalandet.blogspot.com/2009/06/jordgubbar-
pa...](http://promenaderpalandet.blogspot.com/2009/06/jordgubbar-pa-stra.html)

[https://www.instagram.com/p/5FaadlgU3N/](https://www.instagram.com/p/5FaadlgU3N/)

[http://www.tvillingmormor.com/?p=248](http://www.tvillingmormor.com/?p=248)

[https://www.google.com/search?q=jordgubbe+str%C3%A5&newwindo...](https://www.google.com/search?q=jordgubbe+str%C3%A5&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&biw=1920&bih=1065)

~~~
eksemplar
I'm not saying you're wrong, and I'm not very knowledgeable about language
evolution but strawberries are called "earth berries" in Scandinavian
languages.

~~~
flexie
The scandinavian words for strawberry, "jordbær" in Danish/Norwegian (directly
translated "earth berries" or "ground berries"), "jordgubbe" in Swedish (earth
lump) are believed to be named such because they grow close to the ground.

Most of the other compound fruits or berries eaten in Scandinavia/England grow
on trees or bushes.

~~~
qz_
"Aardbei" in Dutch roughly translates to earthberry

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jnsaff2
This is how we picked wild strawberries as kids:

[http://pilt.toidutare.ee/pilt/06.2012/4249/originaal.jpg?t=1...](http://pilt.toidutare.ee/pilt/06.2012/4249/originaal.jpg?t=1416925519)

or

[http://www.eesti.ca/pics/2010/07/28943_4.jpg](http://www.eesti.ca/pics/2010/07/28943_4.jpg)

Coincidence? I don't think so!

~~~
ptaipale
Same here across the gulf, that's how we collected them as kids.

BTW, the berries in the pictures are indeed wild strawberries (Fragaria
vesca), which are quite different from garden strawberries (Fragaria ×
ananassa). The wild ones are very aromatic, although (being wild) less
consistent in taste. It's considered a different fruit across here (even if it
is not really a fruit but an "aggregate accessory fruit").

Also in Swedish, it has a completely different name (garden strawberry is
"jordgubb" while the wild one is "smultron").

Garden strawberries in Scandinavia and Baltics (Sweden, Estonia, Finland) are
also quite different from the garden strawberries that come from France or
Spain or anywhere in the USA. In my mouth, the difference between an American
garden strawberry and a Scandinavian one is about as big as the difference
between an apple and an orange. (Taste, structure). I guess it mostly comes
from the plant variants used, and how much light the plant gets in a day
during the growing season.

Finally, Estonian for "strawberry pie" (maasikapirukas) is Finnish for "earth-
swine devilish" so perhaps there's something to that thing about earth, after
all.

~~~
ice3
>Finally, Estonian for "strawberry pie" (maasikapirukas) is Finnish for
"earth-swine devilish" so perhaps there's something to that thing about earth,
after all.

The pirukas part might come from baltic - pyragas and/or slavic - pirog.

~~~
ptaipale
Naturally. Same root also in the Finnish word (piirakka).

In fact, it seems that Fenno-Ugric words for strawberry also refer to earth,
just like Germanic. Finnish "mansikka" and Estonian "maasika" both start like
"maa, manner, mansi, mantu". So it appears the meaning has been translated
long, long ago, it's not borrowed as a word that sounds the same.

(For those who don't know, Fenno-Ugric languages like Finnish, Estonian or
Hungarian are of a completely different origin than Indo-European languages
which include Germanic, Romanic and Slavic languages. English and Russian are
close relatives and Hindi is their cousin, while Finnish, Estonian and
Hungarian are a strange family to them. And then there is the European orphan,
Basque language.)

~~~
jnsaff2
To put it more graphically:
[http://www.theguardian.com/education/gallery/2015/jan/23/a-l...](http://www.theguardian.com/education/gallery/2015/jan/23/a-language-
family-tree-in-pictures)

~~~
ptaipale
Yes, that was nice (but as you can see, the Basque language didn't make it,
being both unrelated and small).

------
Reason077
According to my (English) Gardener's Almanac:

Strawberries are called "Strawberries" because, traditionally, growers place a
straw "mulch" under the plants so that the berries don't come into contact
with the ground. This prevents rotting and mildew from the moist soil.

Now days, plastic mulch is often used instead, but you still see straw being
used too.

[http://c8.alamy.com/comp/B7MY41/english-strawberry-crop-
in-f...](http://c8.alamy.com/comp/B7MY41/english-strawberry-crop-in-fruit-
with-straw-mulch-between-the-rows-B7MY41.jpg)

~~~
oniony
It was mentioned in the article that the naming predates cultivated
strawberries.

~~~
Reason077
All I could find in the article was this:

 _If straw was ever used in protecting strawberries, this practice would have
been important only in gardening, but before naming the garden berry, whose
cultivation is late, people gathered strawberries in the wild._

This wording suggests to me that the name came _after_ cultivation? In old
english they were apparently known as "Earthberries".

Secondly, straw certainly is used in protecting strawberries - and has been
for a long time!

~~~
khedoros
The sentence you quoted states that the name came _before_ cultivation, which
occurred later in time.

Basically "Using straw would only happen in gardened berries, but that wasn't
done until long after people gathered strawberries (by that name) from the
wild".

~~~
Reason077
My reading of that sentence gives the opposite meaning to your interpretation!

But, it's badly written and perhaps the author meant is different to how it
reads.

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tonyedgecombe
Strawberries have to be my most successful allotment crop:
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/edgecombe/4735353542/in/datepo...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/edgecombe/4735353542/in/dateposted/)

~~~
paublyrne
They look succulent. Do you use slug pellets?

The last time I tried growing them was when I was a child. The built up
excitement of fruiting ended in anticlimax as I found them all eaten one
morning, before I had been able to pick them. My mother said slugs got them.

Now I wonder about that comment.

~~~
reitanqild
If they were all _gone_ overnight I guess something else took them e.g. birds.

If snails took them you'd see strawberry "skins" still hanging there.

Edit: tip for removing snails without using questionable chemicals: pour beer
into something that is easy for snails to enter. Leave out in the strawberry
crop overnight. At least around here snails love beer and drink themselves to
death.

~~~
ricksplat
If they were _all_ gone it's not likely birds either. Birds can't "see" the
red pigmentation in strawberries.

~~~
goldbrick
Which birds are you talking about? Birds have excellent color vision.

~~~
ricksplat
Yeah I'm sorry I don't know where I got that idea!!!

That said, I grow a lot of these berries and for some reason the birds never
go near em.

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blowski
> There are two theories as to the true origin of the word, both deriving from
> its first syllable. One explanation hinges on a particular meaning of
> "straw" — a particle of straw, chaff, or mote — describing the appearance of
> the achenes (tiny yellow seeds) scattered over the surface of the berry.
> Another view says it comes from "stray" or "strew," designating the spread
> of the plant's runners (slender tendrils), in that in an unchecked field of
> strawberries the plants appear to have been strewn across the ground with
> their runners straying everywhere. This second explanation is the more
> popular.

[http://www.snopes.com/language/notthink/strawberry.asp](http://www.snopes.com/language/notthink/strawberry.asp)

Given that the word is more than 1000 years old, it's not surprising that the
word 'straw' had different usage at the time strawberries got their name.

~~~
kaitai
There is a whole family of plants called "bedstraw" that were traditionally
used for stuffing beds, and they do have slender tendrils all over. This name
is quite old in english (medieval-ish).

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bunkydoo
If you take a straw and poke through the bottom tip and up - removes the stem
;)

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arvinjoar
Wow, this is ridiculously imprecise. As people here have already pointed out,
"jordgubbe" is the commonly used word for "strawberry" in Swedish.

This is a "smultron":
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Fragaria...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Fragaria_vesca_LC0389.jpg)
(wild strawberry) and this is a "jordgubbe":
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Fragola_...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Fragola_1.JPG)
(strawberry)

In the end one of his theories may be right, but one would think he would
mention that "jordgubbe", also means "earth berry", I'm actually quite
frustrated that he's not concerned about creating a myth around what the word
"smultron" means, isn't his job to bring clarity and not confusion?

One can only hope that not many other academics read this and spin things off
of such a poor foundation, and instead opt to figure things out on their own,
which is bound to be more reliable than basing anything off of this. It's
actually quite embarrassing how many times a 5-year old's comprehension of
Swedish could clear things up in the case of professors playing fast and loose
with translations of Swedish or Old Norse. It would be way better if they
asked a Swede before publishing things, in the case of Swedish translations,
and perhaps reaching out to an Icelander when they're trying to translate Old
Norse. Although it might not sound like it, this is actually the charitable
critique, if he is actually fluent in Swedish, I wouldn't know where to begin.

It might also be worth pointing out that in the case of the Bergman title,
"Smultronstället" refers to something very specific, and is a common idiom,
namely, a place that only you and your family/close friends know about and
cherish. Of course, the etymology of this term is trivial to figure out, but I
don't know why this trivia was even mentioned in the post to begin with, so
perhaps not?

Sorry for ranting, I just hate it when a few minutes/seconds of extra research
could have cleared up some confusion for a lot of people.

------
wmt
I always though it was a reference for covering the ground around strawberry
plants with dry straws. Strawberries especially go bad if the berries touch
moist ground, gathering mold or fungus, and you'll also want to avoid weeds,
so a thick layer of dried straws work perfectly for farming strawberries.

I think the real title is "The Oxford Etymologist doesn't know how strawberry
got their name"

~~~
keyanp
+1

Worked on a commercial strawberry farm for a little while and we would cover
the strawberry fields with straw around November to protect the plants over
the winter. It would also prevent weeds during the next growing season as the
parent post mentions.

------
JustSomeNobody
I think they should be called RabbitBerries because I'll be darned if the
Rabbits don't get 'em all.

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slantaclaus
Entry from etymonline: strawberry (n.) Look up strawberry at Dictionary.com
Old English streawberige, streaberie; see straw + berry. There is no
corresponding compound in other Germanic languages; the reason for the name is
uncertain, but perhaps it is in reference to the tiny chaff-like external
seeds which cover the fruit. A cognate Old English name was eorðberge "earth-
berry" (compare Modern German Erdbeere). As a color adjective from 1670s.
Strawberry blonde is attested from 1884. Strawberry mark (1847) so called for
its resemblance.

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krrrh
Interesting. I'd like to see an article on why English speakers decided we
needed [our own
name]([http://i.imgur.com/rdGWiBY.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/rdGWiBY.jpg) ) for
pineapples (the etymology seems pretty clear).

~~~
xomateix
In spanish and catalan it's called `piña` and `pinya` (exact same
pronunciation as ñ is ny in catalan) because its shape is similar to the
`Conifer cone` (called pinya as well) [1].

[1]
[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi%C3%B1a](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi%C3%B1a)

------
xefer
Anatoly Liberman's columns are always interesting. Here is a great profile of
the man:

[http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/origin-
unknown](http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/origin-unknown)

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outside1234
I thought people who cultivate Strawberries put straw underneath them to
prevent wet rot or grubs from getting them?

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baron816
I think the funniest think about the name "strawberry" is that they're not
actually berries.

~~~
olau
This comes from a confusion of definitions.

In common language, a berry is something small that you can pick, usually to
eat. That biologists studying plants operate with another definition is really
a separate concern.

It's similar with vegetables and fruit, e.g. a tomato. I imagine most people
will group a tomato with vegetables, rather than apples and oranges.

One definition makes sense in a food setting, another definition makes sense
when you're trying to understand how stuff works.

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z3t4
Strawberries like to grow near straw.

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kristopolous
If you had discovered these and were tasked with naming them, what would you
call them?

~~~
lordelph
heartberries :)

~~~
JustSomeNobody
That's adorable.

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mkagenius
While we are at it, can someone tell me why french beard is called so and how
it originated?

~~~
Turing_Machine
(assuming you actually meant "French bread")

In my experience, "French bread" refers to a baguette-shaped whole loaf, which
is pretty much the default for bread in France. Traditional British and
American loaves have a much different shape (wider and thicker, rather than
elongated).

I would speculate that the term "French bread" was created by the British to
distinguish it from the loaf shape they were used to at home.

If you really did mean "French beard", I don't have a clue. :-)

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Amir6
May be one of the least important amongst the list of things nobody knows!

