> On 9/12/2010 1:22 PM, Bob W wrote: > > the correct term in English is rowan berries. > > > > Bob > > Right... > > /scratches his head/ >
why do you scratch your head? A grape is a berry of the vine. the /owa/ part of rowan has the same etymology as the word uva (Latin for grape), related also to oin- as in oinophile from the Greek word, which also gave rise to the English words wine and vine, through French vin, vigne etc. No doubt right back to the proto-Indo-European. Your word ryabina looks to me as though it has a similar etymology as rowan with the /b/ having substituted for /v/ or /w/, which is very common. It wouldn't surprise me at all if some European languages used the same word for both berry and grape. Calling it a rowan berry may be one of those great examples of the same meaning being inadvertently repeated in a phrase, in this case being 'berry berry'. This sort of thing is found a lot where one language group has replaced another. The conqueror points to some natural feature and asks 'What is that called'. The vanquished native replies 'it is the Don' meaning 'it's the river, you idiot'*. The mighty conqueror says 'we shall call it the River Don'. And so it flows quietly on. Bob *This is the meaning of the Ojibwe word Mississippi. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
