apple æppel

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Season:

late July through early November

Culinary:

made into cider. (Ten quarters of apples and pears made seven tuns of cider.)
could be grilled
used in a dish with wine, honey and pepper.
can be stewed in vinegar, wine and water or taken in wine, on occasion sweetened with honey.

Medical:

Leechdoms mentions sour apples, crab apples, sweet apples, wood apples and green apples, which may all be different varieties.
'Many kinds of apples, pears and medlars' (manigfeald appelcyn, peran, æpeningas) are recommended for a delicate stomach.
likely to cause wind.
æppla nales to swete ealles ác surmelsce & peran 7 persucas 'apples by no means too sweet but by all means sourish and pears and peaches'

Agricultural:

Etymology

Old English æppel "apple; any kind of fruit; fruit in general," from Proto-Germanic *ap(a)laz (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch appel, Old Norse eple, Old High German apful, German Apfel), from PIE *ab(e)l- "apple" (source also of Gaulish avallo "fruit;" Old Irish ubull, Lithuanian obuolys, Old Church Slavonic jabloko "apple"), but the exact relation and original sense of these is uncertain

Notes:

Literary:

'may their orchards be filled with apples/fruit' (beoth hyra orcerdas mid æpplum afyllede)
'orchards are suitable for apples/fruit' (synt orceadas gedafenlice æpplum).
æppuldretun and appeltun may mean apple orchard.
reference to an apple orchard is made in the Domesday Book (1086AD): 'the king leases William Peverel ten acres of land to make an apple orchards' (Wittmo Peurel cessit rex x acras terrae, ad facienda pomerium).
apple trees mentioned as landmarks in boundary charters.
asked for as a blessing in the coronation service of Æthelred II (c. 968 – April 23, 1016) crowned 978.
mentioned in the Regimen Sanitatis Salerni as a food that could cause an upset stomach
identified in the St Gall Plan and the Capitulare de villis
William of Malmesbury recorded that Thorney, Isle of Ely, was so fully cultivated with apples and vines that it was like an earthly paradise.

Species and Find sites:

remains of four crab apples found in a hanging bowl in a 7th C barrow burial at Ford, Hampshire.
Pips and crab apples present at Gloucester and Hamwih
frequently found in the excavations of Anglo-Danish York.

Malus sylvestris (crab apple) identified at:

Coppergate & Lloyds Bank, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Saddler Street, Durham (593-1178)
Lurk Lane, Beverley, Humberside (c900-1100)
Whitefriars Street, Norwich (975-1100)
General Accident, Tanner Row, North Yorkshire (1000-1200)

bilberry bran-wyrt, h%þ-berige

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Season:

August- September

Culinary:

Medical:

Wyrc sealfe wiþ ælfcynne & nihtgengan & þam mannum þe deofol mid hæm# . . . h%þ-bergean wisan 'Work a salve against elfkind and nightgoers and for the people who the devil has intercourse with . . . heath berries sprouts/stalks'

Notes:

heath-berry may be identified as Vaccinium myrtillus (bilberry) or Empetrum nigrum (crowberry) - both are moorland plants that have berries
h@þ was used to denote several moorland plants
Vaccinium also includes blueberries and cranberries

Literary:

bran-wyrt only known from Aelfric's Glossary and Wrights Vocab - Vaccinium
bran must be a scribal error as the word does not otherwise exist

Agricultural:

Etymology:

a small dark blue edible berry; late 16th century: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare with Danish bøllebær

Species and Find sites:

Vaccinium spp

at 2 Anglo-Scandinavian sites in York

blackberry blæcberie, brembel-æppel

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Season:

August -September

Culinary:

Medical:

Gením brembel-æppel 'take a bramble-fruit' - in 2 remedies against devils temptations

Agricultural:

Etymology:

"fruit of the bramble," early 12c., from Old English blaceberian, from black (adj.) + berry. So called for the colour. Also in Old English as bremelberie, bremelæppel = bramble apple

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Rubus fruticosus (blackberry)

The Bedern, York (580-900)
Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih (700-900)
Lloyds Bank York 72-3, 6-8 Pavement, York (900-1100)
Riggs Hall 78-80, Shrewsbury (900-1150)
River Exe 84, St Thomas, Exeter (900-1300)
Saddler St 74, Durham City (593-1203)
St Barnabas Hospital 77, Thetford (900-1050)
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) - Saxo-Norman
General Accident York 83-4, York, 24-30 Tanner Row (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Eastgate Beverley 83-86, Beverley (750)
North Elmham Park 62-72, North Elmham (800-850)
St Aldates (65), Oxford (11th c)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (830-1200)
Coppergate 74, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Lurk Lane 79-82, Beverley (750-1100)
Abbots Worthy, nr Winchester (in an SFB) Anglo-Saxon
Sidbury 76, Worcester (11th c)
Rougier St York 81, York (800-1000)

blueberry

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Season:

June - September

Culinary:

Medical:

Wyrc sealfe wiþ ælfcynne & nihtgengan & þam mannum þe deofol mid hæm# . . . h%þ-bergean wisan 'Work a salve against elfkind and nightgoers and for the people who the devil has intercourse with . . . heath berries sprouts/stalks'

Agricultural:

Notes:

h@þ was used to denote several moorland plants
Vaccinium also includes bilberries and cranberries

Literary:

bran-wyrt only known from Aelfric's Glossary and Wrights Vocab - Vaccinium
bran must be a scribal error as the word does not otherwise exist

Species and Find sites:

Vaccinium spp

at 2 Anglo-Scandinavian sites in York

Etymology:

also blue-berry, fruit of several species of Vaccinium, c. 1775, from blue + berry.

bullace

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Season:

October - November

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology:

From Middle English bolas, bolace, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beloce, buloce (“sloe”), from Vulgar Latin *bullucea, from Late Latin bulluca (“kind of small fruit”); of Celtic/Gaulish origin, akin to Celtiberian *bullācā, from Proto-Celtic *bullākā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeHw- (“to swell, puff”), itself imitative. Possibly influenced by Latin galla (“oak apple”) with metathesis of the consonants.

Notes:

Prunus domestica insititia includes damsons

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Prunus domestica ssp. insititia

Thetford 73-80, Thetford, 1984, Norfolk (late Saxon)
St Barnabas Hospital 77, Thetford (900-1050)
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) (1000-1150)
Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih (750-900)
General Accident York 83-4, York (anglo-Scandinavian)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (975-1100)
Lurk Lane 79-82, Beverley, 1991, Humberside (800-1100)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

cherry cyrse, cirse, ciris-æppel

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Season:

April - August

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology:

pulpy drupe of a well-known type of tree, c. 1300, earlier in surname Chyrimuth (1266, literally "Cherry-mouth"); from Anglo-French cherise, from Old North French cherise (Old French, Modern French cerise, 12c.), from Vulgar Latin *ceresia, from late Greek kerasian "cherry," from Greek kerasos "cherry tree," possibly from a language of Asia Minor. Mistaken in Middle English for a plural and stripped of its -s.

Old English had ciris "cherry" from a West Germanic borrowing of the Vulgar Latin word (cognate with German Kirsch), but it died out after the Norman invasion and was replaced by the French word.

Notes:

though now naturalised, the wild cherry was probably quite rare

Literary:

seems to only occur in glossaries

Species and Find sites:

Prunus avium (wild cherry)

Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) (1000-1150)
Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih (750-870)
Coppergate 74, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

Prunus cerasus (dwarf cherry)

Milk St, City of London (middle Saxon)

cranberry

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Season:

October - December

Culinary:

Medical:

Wyrc sealfe wiþ ælfcynne & nihtgengan & þam mannum þe deofol mid hæm# . . . h%þ-bergean wisan 'Work a salve against elfkind and nightgoers and for the people who the devil has intercourse with . . . heath berries sprouts/stalks'

Agricultural:

Notes:

h@þ was used to denote several moorland plants
Vaccinium also includes blueberries and bilberries

Literary:

bran-wyrt only known from Aelfric's Glossary and Wrights Vocab - Vaccinium
bran must be a scribal error as the word does not otherwise exist

Species and Find sites:

Vaccinium spp

at 2 Anglo-Scandinavian sites in York

Etymology:

name of the fruit of several species of a swamp-growing shrub, 1640s, apparently an American English adaptation of Low German kraanbere, from kraan "crane" + Middle Low German bere "berry".

The reason for the name is not known; perhaps they were so called from fancied resemblance between the plants' stamens and the beaks of cranes.

crowberry

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Season:

September

Culinary:

Medical:

Wyrc sealfe wiþ ælfcynne & nihtgengan & þam mannum þe deofol mid hæm# . . . h%þ-bergean wisan 'Work a salve against elfkind and nightgoers and for the people who the devil has intercourse with . . . heath berries sprouts/stalks'

Notes:

heath-berry may be identified as Vaccinium myrtillus (bilberry) or Empetrum nigrum (crowberry) - both are moorland plants that have berries
h@þ was used to denote several moorland plants

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Empetrum nigrum

found only in Scotland

Agricultural:

Etymology:

crow + berry

damson

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Season:

August -October

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology:

late Middle English damascene, from Latin damascenum (prunum ) ‘(plum) of Damascus’

Notes:

Prunus domestica insititia includes bullace

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Prunus domestica ssp. insititia

Thetford 73-80, Thetford, 1984, Norfolk (late Saxon)
St Barnabas Hospital 77, Thetford (900-1050)
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) (1000-1150)
Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih (750-900)
General Accident York 83-4, York (anglo-Scandinavian)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (975-1100)
Lurk Lane 79-82, Beverley, 1991, Humberside (800-1100)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

dewberry

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Season:

April - May

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology:

popular name of a woodland bramble or its fruit, which is black with a bluish dewy bloom, 1570s, from dew + berry, a name variously applied in England and North America.

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Rubus caesius

Eastgate Beverley 83-86, Beverley, 1992, Humberside (750)
General Accident York 83-4, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

elderberry ellen berige

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Season:

August - October

Culinary:

Medical:

only leaves and flowers are called for in Leechdoms

Agricultural:

Etymology:

elder - type of berry tree, c. 1400, from earlier ellen, from Old English ellæn, ellærn "elderberry tree," origin unknown, perhaps related to alder, which at any rate might be the source of the unetymological -d-. Common Germanic, cognates: Old Saxon elora, Middle Low German elre, Old High German elira, German Eller, Erle.

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Sambucus nigra (elder)

The Bedern York 76-80, York (580-900)
Hartlepool 84-5, Church Close, 1988, Cleveland (7th/8thc)
Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih, 1980, Hampshire (700-900) pit fill
Granville St 73, Southampton SAR XI, 1976, Hampshire (mid-late Saxon) pit fill
North Elmham Park 62-72, North Elmham, Norwich/Fakenham (800-850)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (830-1200) accumulation layers
Upper Thames St, City of London (late Roman to 8th c)
Rougier St York 81, York (400-850)

fig fic

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Season:

August - September

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Notes:

Literary:

translated from the gospels

Species and Find sites:

Ficus carica (fig)

Milk St, City of London (Saxon)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

Etymology:

Middle English: from Old French figue, from Provençal fig(u)a, based on Latin ficus

grapes win-beries, bergena

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Season:

September - October

Culinary:

Medical:

Nim wínberian coddas 'take husks of wine-berries'
Wiþ #æra innoþa to#undennysse & hætan - genim ðás ylcan wyrte mid wínberian gecnucude mid beanenon meoluwe wyrc to clyþan heo gehæleþ #a to#undennysse 'for the insides's swelling and heat - take of this same plant [cummin] with wine-berries pounded with bean meal; work to a poultice. It healeth the swelling.' from Dioscorides (Cockayne states a rude word for the original Greek whereof the Latin testiculorum has been translated as if intestinorum)
nym wínberían þe beoþ acende æfter oþre berigían 'take wine-berries which be-eth formed after other berries'

Agricultural:

Etymology:

mid-13c., "a grape, a berry of the vine," also collective singular, from Old French grape "bunch of grapes, grape" (12c.), probably a back-formation from graper "steal; grasp; catch with a hook; pick (grapes)," from a Frankish or other Germanic word, from Proto-Germanic *krappon "hook," from a group of Germanic words meaning "bent, crooked, hooked" (cognates: Middle Dutch crappe, Old High German krapfo "hook;"). The original notion thus perhaps was "vine hook for grape-picking." The vine is not native to England. The word replaced Old English winberige "wine berry." Spanish grapa, Italian grappa also are from Germanic.

Notes:

UK climate was warmer in the Anglo-Saxon period so growing grapes here may have been easier

Literary:

Gif ðú gange binnan ðínes freóndes wíneard, et ðæra bergena swá fela, swá ðú wylle 'if thou shalt go within thy friend's vine-yard, eat as many of the grapes as thou wilt', Deuteronomy.
Beóþ ðínes wífes wélan gelíce swá on wíngearde weaxen berigean and on ðínes húses hwommum genihtsum 'the riches of thy wife shall be like as grapes may grow in a vineyard, and abundant on the corners of thy house', Psalms.
Wín bið of manegum berium áwrungen 'wine be-eth from many berries wrung out' Thorpe's Homilies

Species and Find sites:

Vitis vinifera (grape)

Watling Court, City of London (Saxon-Norman)
Milk St, City of London (Saxon-Norman)
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) (1000-1150)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (975-1200)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

haw hægberie

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Season:

October

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology:

"enclosure," Old English haga "enclosure, fortified enclosure; hedge," from Proto-Germanic *hag- (source also of Old Norse hagi, Old Saxon hago, German Hag "hedge;" Middle Dutch hage, Dutch haag, as in the city name The Hague), from PIE root *kagh- "to catch seize; wickerwork fence".

Meaning "fruit of the hawthorn bush" (Old English) is perhaps short for *hægberie.

Notes:

literally 'hedge-berry'

Literary:

references are to hawthorn as hedge boundaries
otherwise the word only occurs in glossaries

Species and Find sites:

Crataegus monogyna (common hawthorn)

Miles Lane, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
Milk St, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih (750-870)
General Accident York 83-4, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (830-1200)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

medlars open-ears, open-ærs

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Season:

October - November

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Notes:

Literary:

from vocabs and glossaries

Species and Find sites:

Mespilus germanica (common medlar)

Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) (1000-1150)

Etymology:

small fruit-bearing tree related to the crab-apple, c. 1400 (mid-14c. in reference to the fruit itself, earlier medle, c. 1300), from Old French medler, meslier, variants of mesple, from Latin mespila "fruit of the medlar," from Greek mespilion, a foreign word of unknown origin (Beekes thinks it probably Pre-Greek on account of the suffix).

"When first gathered, it is harsh and uneatable, but in the early stages of decay it acquires an acid flavour much relished by some" [Century Dictionary].

The tree was introduced into southern Europe from western Asia. In Romanic the initial consonant has shifted to n-; as in French nèfle, Spanish nespera, Italian nespolo. The Old English name for the fruit was openærs, literally "open-arse," probably so called for the large puckered "eye" between the calyx lobes.

mulberry byrig-berge, mór-berige

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Season:

August - September

Culinary:

móraþ, mórod - A drink formed by boiling down and sweetening wine (with mulberries), a decoction of wine and herbs

Medical:

Byrigbergena seáw selle drincan 'give him to drink juice of mulberries'

Notes:

Literary:

Homilies and Psalms

Species and Find sites:

Morus nigra (black mulberry)

Milk St, City of London (Saxon-Norman)
Eastgate Beverley 83-86, Beverley, Humberside (750)

Agricultural:

Etymology:

c. 1300, "tree of the genus Morus;" mid-14c. in reference to a berry from the tree; an alteration of morberie (13c.) from or cognate with Middle High German mul-beri (alteration by dissimilation of Old High German mur-beri, Modern German Maulbeere); both from Latin morum "mulberry, blackberry" + Old English berie, Old High German beri "berry."

The Latin word probably is from Greek moron "mulberry," from PIE *moro- "blackberry, mulberry" (source also of Armenian mor "blackberry," Middle Irish merenn, Welsh merwydden "mulberry").

peach persogge, persuce

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Season:

August - September

Culinary:

Medical:

Nim ðone cyrnel ðe byþ innan ðan persogge 'take the kernel which is within the peach'
æppla nales to swete ealles ác surmelsce & peran 7 persucas 'apples by no means too sweet but by all means sourish and pears and peaches'

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Prunus persica (peach)

Eastgate, Beverley, Humberside (750)

Agricultural:

Etymology:

c. 1400 peche, peoche, "fleshy fruit of the peach tree" (late 12c. as a surname), from Old French pesche "peach, peach tree" (Old North French peske, Modern French pêche), and directly from Medieval Latin pesca, from Late Latin pessica, variant of persica "peach, peach tree," from Latin mālum Persicum, literally "Persian apple," translating Greek Persikon malon, from Persis "Persia".

Old English had it as persue, persoe, directly from Latin. In ancient Greek Persikos could mean "Persian" or "the peach." The tree is native to China, but reached Europe via Persia.

pear pere, peru, pera

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Season:

October

Culinary:

Medical:

æppla nales to swete ealles ác surmelsce & peran 7 persucas 'apples by no means too sweet but by all means sourish and pears and peaches'

Agricultural:

Notes:

Literary:

Gyf þú peran wille . . . geþeód þíne fingras tósomne forð handlenge 'if you want pears . . . join your fingers together projecting out their full length' (sign language for silent monastic orders)

Species and Find sites:

Pyrus / Malus sp

Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih

Etymology:

Middle English pere, from Old English pere, peru "fruit of the pear tree," common West Germanic (Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pere, Old High German pira, bira, Dutch peer), from Vulgar Latin *pera, variant of Latin pira, plural (taken for fem. singular) of pirum "pear," a loan word from an unknown source, perhaps Semitic or a lost Mediterranean language. It likely shares an origin with Greek apion "pear," apios "pear tree." Their cultivation began as much as 3,000 years ago.

plum plúme, plýme

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Season:

July - September

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology:

"fruit of the genus Prunus," Middle English ploume, from Old English plume "plum, plum tree," from an early Germanic borrowing (Middle Dutch prume, Dutch pruim, Old High German pfluma, pfruma, German Pflaume) from Vulgar Latin *pruna, from Latin prunum "plum," from Greek prounon, a later form of proumnon, a word of unknown origin, which is probably, like the tree itself, of Anatolian origin. The change of pr- to pl- is peculiar to some Germanic languages.

Notes:

Literary:

only written in glossaries and vocabs

Species and Find sites:

Prunus domestica (domesticated plum)

Saddler St 74, Durham City (593-1178)
Hungate York 50, York (late Anglo-Scandinavian)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (830-1200)
Lloyds Bank York 72-3, 6-8 Pavement, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Watling Court, Miles Lane and Milk Street, City of London (Saxon-Norman)
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) (Saxo-Norman)

pomegranate Africanisc æppel

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Season:

Culinary:

Medical:

Notes:

'African apple'

Literary:

only written in glossaries and vocabs

Species and Find sites:

Agricultural:

Etymology:

c. 1300, poumgarnet (a metathesized form), "the large, roundish, many-seeded, red-pulped fruit of the pomegranate tree," from Old French pome grenate (Modern French grenade) and directly from Medieval Latin pomum granatum, literally "apple with many seeds," from pome "apple; fruit" + grenate "having grains," from Latin granata, fem. of granatus, from granum "grain" (from PIE root *gre-no- "grain").

The classical Latin name was mālum granatum "seeded apple" or mālum Punicum "Punic apple." Italian form is granata, Spanish is granada. The -gra- spelling was restored in English early 15c.

Of the tree itself from late 14c.

quince cod-æppel, gód-æpple

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Season:

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Notes:

Literary:

only occurs in glossaries and vocabs

Species and Find sites:

Etymology:

codd - bag, sack, husk and gód = good combined with apple

raspberry hind-berige

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Season:

July - October

Culinary:

Medical:

genim hindbergean 'take raspberries'

Agricultural:

Etymology:

a fruit of various plants of the genus Rubus, 1620s, earlier raspis berry (1540s), a word of obscure origin. Possibly it is from raspise "a sweet rose-colored wine" (mid-15c.), from Anglo-Latin vinum raspeys, which is itself of uncertain origin. Connection to Old French raspe, Medieval Latin raspecia, raspeium, also meaning "raspberry," are likewise obscure.

One suggestion is that it may come via Old Walloon raspoie "thicket," which is of Germanic origin. Klein suggests it is via the French word, from a Germanic source akin to English rasp (v.), with an original sense of "rough berry," based on appearance.

Notes:

Literary:

also occurs in glossaries and vocabs

Species and Find sites:

Rubus idaeus (raspberry)

The Bedern York 76-80, York (580-900)
Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih (750-870)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (830-1200)
Saddler St 74, Durham City (593-1178)
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) 1000-1150
Lloyds Bank York 72-3, 6-8 Pavement, York (900-1100 Anglo-Scandinavian)
Lurk Lane 79-82, Beverley, 1991, Humberside (800-1100)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

rosehips

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Season:

September - November

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology:

Old English rose, from Latin rosa (source of Italian and Spanish rosa, French rose; also source of Dutch roos, German Rose, Swedish ros, Serbo-Croatian ruža, Polish róża, Russian roza, Lithuanian rožė, Hungarian rózsa, Irish ros, Welsh rhosyn, etc.), probably via Italian and Greek dialects from Greek rhodon "rose" (Aeolic brodon).

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Rosa (rose)

Graveney Boat 70, Graveney, 1978, Kent (10th c) wreck fill
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site), 1988, Norfolk (1000-1150) pit fills
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

rowanberries

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Season:

August - September

Culinary:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Sorbus aucuparia (rowan, mountain ash)

Saddler St 74, Durham City (593-1178)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo=Scandinavian)

Etymology:

"mountain ash," 1804, from rowan-tree, rountree (1540s), northern English and Scottish, from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse reynir, Swedish Ronn "the rowan"), ultimately from PIE root *reudh- "red, ruddy," in reference to the berries.

sloe slá(h)

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Season:

October - November

Culinary:

Medical:

genim onw%re sláh ðæt seáw . . . gif sió sláh biþ gréne 'take of an unripe sloe the juice . . . if the sloe be green'

Agricultural:

Etymology:

fruit of the blackthorn, Old English slah (plural slan), from Proto-Germanic *slaikhwon (source also of Middle Dutch sleeu, Dutch slee, Old High German sleha, German Schlehe), from PIE *sleiə- "blue, bluish, blue-black"

Notes:

Literary:

Species and Find sites:

Prunus spinosa (sloe)

Thetford, late Saxon
Watling Court, Miles Lane an Milk Street, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
Saddler St 74, Durham City (593-1178)
St Barnabas Hospital 77, Thetford (900-1050)
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) 1000-1150
Melbourne St 71-6, Southampton, Hamwih (750-870)
General Accident York 83-4, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (830-1200)
Lloyds Bank York 72-3, 6-8 Pavement (ANglo-Scandinavian)
Lurk Lane 79-82, Beverley, 1991, Humberside (800-1100)
Abbots Worthy, nr Winchester (middle Saxon)
St Peter's St 73-6, Northampton (late Saxon)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

strawberry streáw-berige, (streá-, streów-, stréu-), eorþ-beri(g)e

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Season:

May - September

Culinary:

Medical:

strawberry juice and honey is said to be good for spleen pain - add pepper and it is good for a tight chest and sore innards.

Agricultural:

Etymology:

Old English streawberige, streaberie. 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).

Notes:

Literary:

in vocabs, glosses and leechdoms

Species and Find sites:

Fragaria vesca (wild strawberry)

Watling Court and Milk Street, City of London (Saxo-Norman)
Magistrates Court Norwich, Norwich (Whitefriars St site) 1000-1150
Whitefriars St 79, Norwich (975-1000)
Lurk Lane 79-82, Beverley, 1991, Humberside (800-1100)
Coppergate 76-81, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)

Resources:

Archaeobotanical Database
Bosworth-Toller Old English Dictionary
Online Etymology Dictionary
Cockayne, Leechdoms 1864

Fruit

Index:

A

apple æppel

B

bilberry bran-wyrt, h%þ-berige

blackberry blæcberie, brembel-æppel

blueberry

bullace

C

cherry cyrse, cirse, ciris-æppel

cranberry

crowberry

D

damson

dewberry

E

elderberry ellen berige

F

fig fic

G

grapes win-beries, bergena

H

haw hægberie

M

medlars open-ears, open-ærs

mulberry byrig-berge, mór-berige

P

peach persogge, persuce

pear pere, peru, pera

plum plúme, plýme

pomegranate Africanisc æppel

Q

quince cod-æppel, gód-æpple

R

raspberry hind-berige

rosehips

rowanberries

S

sloe slá(h)

strawberry streáw-berige, (streá-, streów-, stréu-), eorþ-beri(g)e