--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:
> Very common in English hedgerows and derelict land. I remember
being
> warned against eating roadside blackberries because of high lead
> content from exhaust fumes. Brambles are a weed to be dealt with
> promptly if you don't want to have to use gloves!
Brambles off the road, however, are considered healthy and salutary
especially for the heart and vascular system. I myself have picked a
large amount making marmelade and freezing.
To get on-topic of this forum: the etymology of bramble:
Sw. björnbär (also brom- or bräm-bär) means literally "bear-berry".
It seems there is such a berry also in English (Arctostaphylos uva-
ursi), not very tasty nor healthy.
Hellquist (
http://runeberg.org/svetym/) pp.45-46, suggests that
brambly, Gotic bairabagms: mulberry, is indeed from the same stem
as bear, Pokorny *bher2: brown, darkish.
He states that brambles are called mulberries in English dialects.
He also gives an alternative root *bher meaning pointed appearing in
Latin far farris.
Lars
Hellquist:
Björnbär, Rubus fruticosus o. Cassius,
förr även: bräm- o. brombär (jfr ty.
brombeere); som busknamn 1638, som
bärnamn Linné 1732 - no., jfr eng.
bear-berry, mjölon; stammen *bera-, björn,
synes också ingå i got. bairabagms,
mullbärsträd, vars frukter likna björnbärens,
jfr samma dubbelbetydelse hos lat.
môrum ävensom att eng. mulberry i dial.
betecknar 'björnbär'; se mullbär o.
Falk-Torp ss. 77, 1438. Enl. Loewe
Germ. Pflanzennamen s. 13 har dock
got. bairabagms möjl. folketymologiskt
anslutit sig till stammen för 'björn' o.
hör egentl, till roten bher, vara spetsig
(se barr); efter buskens taggar. -