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> Scots call bilberries blaeberries, so it could be a corruption of that. Interesting. 'Blae' in Blaeberries seems very close to 'Blå' in Blåbær (Norwegian, Da

> Scots call bilberries blaeberries, so it could be a corruption of that. Interesting. 'Blae' in Blaeberries seems very close to 'Blå' in Blåbær (Norwegian, Danish), Blåbär (Swedish) which means blueberry; typically found wild in the forest.

benj111 7y ago
Wikipedia possibly agrees "The name “bilberry” appears to have a Scandinavian origin, possibly from as early as 1577, being similar to the Danish word bølle" Interestingly bilberry seems to be a Northern England thing, southerners call them whortleberries. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry
- sampo 7y ago
  So even though a word "blue berry" exists in Danish/Norwegian/Swedish (blåbær/blåbær/blåbär) and German (blaubeere) and even in Scots (blaeberry), the English called them whortleberries? And the English language just didn't have the word blueberry until the American berries were brought to Europe? Fascinating. Well, apparently also Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish don't have a word "blue berry" (Dutch has now, for the American blueberry). So maybe it's not that universal.
  - benj111 7y ago
    The Southern English call them whortleberries. What can I say, they're strange folk down there ;) To be fair blueberries aren't that blue, and bilberries even less so, it's about as self evident as describing white grapes as white. It's even possible the fruit predates the colour. That's the case for Orange which only became a colour in the 16th Century, and was named after the fruit.
mcv 7y ago
In Dutch, I think the billberry is called "bosbes" ("forest berry"). The blueberry is simply called "blauwe bes" ("blue berry"). They're often confused, and the blueberry seems to be treated as a cheaper substitute for the "bosbes".
vidarh 7y ago
You're probably right. Wiktionary suggests Scots 'blae' does have a shared root with blå in the Norse blár [1], which makes sense as a large portion of the difference between Scots and modern English is that Scots has retained a lot more Germanic and Norse words. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bl%C3%A1r#Old_Norse https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bl%C3%A1r#Old_Norse

benj111 7y ago

Wikipedia possibly agrees "The name “bilberry” appears to have a Scandinavian origin, possibly from as early as 1577, being similar to the Danish word bølle" Interestingly bilberry seems to be a Northern England thing, southerners call them whortleberries. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry

sampo 7y ago
So even though a word "blue berry" exists in Danish/Norwegian/Swedish (blåbær/blåbær/blåbär) and German (blaubeere) and even in Scots (blaeberry), the English called them whortleberries? And the English language just didn't have the word blueberry until the American berries were brought to Europe? Fascinating. Well, apparently also Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish don't have a word "blue berry" (Dutch has now, for the American blueberry). So maybe it's not that universal.
- benj111 7y ago
  The Southern English call them whortleberries. What can I say, they're strange folk down there ;) To be fair blueberries aren't that blue, and bilberries even less so, it's about as self evident as describing white grapes as white. It's even possible the fruit predates the colour. That's the case for Orange which only became a colour in the 16th Century, and was named after the fruit.

mcv 7y ago

In Dutch, I think the billberry is called "bosbes" ("forest berry"). The blueberry is simply called "blauwe bes" ("blue berry"). They're often confused, and the blueberry seems to be treated as a cheaper substitute for the "bosbes".

vidarh 7y ago

You're probably right. Wiktionary suggests Scots 'blae' does have a shared root with blå in the Norse blár [1], which makes sense as a large portion of the difference between Scots and modern English is that Scots has retained a lot more Germanic and Norse words. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bl%C3%A1r#Old_Norse https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bl%C3%A1r#Old_Norse