whimberry

English

Whimberries growing on a branch.

Alternative forms

• whinberry, wimberry, winberry, windberry

Etymology

From earlier winberry, apparently a variant of wineberry (Middle English winberie) with regular shortening of the first vowel before a consonant cluster; in wineberry, this was prevented or reversed due to analogy.

The assimilation of /nb/ to /mb/ seen in some forms is to be expected (compare hemp < Old English henep). Other forms show the influence of unrelated words; the consonantism of forms with initial wh- is probably due to the influence of whin, while windberry clearly represents remodelling as wind +‎ berry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʍɪmˌbɛɹi/, /ˈʍɪmbəɹi/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (whine–wine merger) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪmˌbɛɹi/, /ˈwɪmbəɹi/

Noun

whimberry (plural whimberries)

1. (dialectal) The bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus).
   • 1871, C. S. Gregson, “Varieties and Aberrations of Lepidoptera”, in Edward Newman, editor, The Entomologist‎^[1], volume V, London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., page 75:

     Another variable species: when fed upon whimberry or cowberry it is a most distinct-looking insect, often with the white patches placed in a triangle, one on the disk, one on the hind margin, and the usual one: no band.

   • 1900, Helen Brierley, Morgan Brierley, a Memoir: With a Selection from His Writings‎^[2], Rochdale: James Clegg, page 260:

     The lovely pink bloom of the whimberry stalk drops on the turf as the inner part knits itself into hard, green, beady fruit, whilst the leafage changes from a soft green to yellowish brown.

   • 2011 December 30, Nina Bawden, In My Own Time: Almost an Autobiography‎^[3], Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN, page 38:

     She made whimberry tarts and we ate them with thick, yellow cream until we were tight as drums.

References

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Whimberry”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes X, Part 2 (V–Z), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 49, column 1.