earthberry

See also: earth-berry

English

Alternative forms

• earth-berry

Etymology

From earth +‎ berry. First attested in the 1800s, mostly in texts about or translated from German or other languages which use similar terms, of which it is likely a calque: German Erdbeere, Danish jordbær, etc. Compare Old English eorþberġe (“strawberry”, literally “earthberry”).

Noun

earthberry (plural earthberries)

1. (rare, nonstandard) A berry whose fruit lies upon the ground, in particular the strawberry (plant and fruit)
   • 1869 July 1, Thomas Bridges, “Fireland and its people”, in The South American Missionary Magazine, volume III, page 114:

     The berries of the islands are sweet black currants, cranberries or goosh, strawberries and earthberries, together with the diddy, mountain, and malvina berries common to the Falkland Islands.

   • 1882, Jeremiah Curtin, “The Round Stone (A Hungarian Folk-story)”, in St. Nicholas, volume 9:

     One time, the poor man had had no bread in the cupboard for a whole week, and the family lived on roots and stewed earthberries.

   • 1999, 2000 Herbal Almanac:

     Wild Strawberries (Fragaria virginiana): A member of the rose family, the strawberry also has the nickname earthberry. No one could mistake this plant's succulent red and juicy berries.

   • 2012, Lena Horn, The Celestial Saga: Forgotten Fox:

     It didn't take long for the waves of heat to reach him, and with them came the scents of tempanuts, earthberries, and honey.

   • 2013, Desmond Hogan, Farewell to Prague:

     One evening in Norway we had earthberries and cream just as Mr Haythornthwaite, the Englishman who visited our town when I was a child, would have had in Norway in the nine-teen-twenties.

   • 2014, Denis Dunstone, Why Is an Apple a Pomme?:

     The Portuguese word is also a mystery. In northern Europe it is simply the earth-berry due to the plant's habit of creeping along the ground.