English to French translation

Words ending in -berry

June 11, 2007

I was interpreting last week and I got really stuck at one point. What was it? When our host mentioned photovoltaic solar systems? Was it when he pointed out the groundsource heat pump or went into great detail in the way anaerobic digestion works?
No. Oh no. It was when we were having lunch and I had to translate the menu to the French. One of the dishes was "Duck with Loganberry coulis" and I just couldn't work out what "loganberry" was. I always knew my knowledge of words ending in -berry was slightly patchy and here I was, caught out because I hadn’t done my homework. Error corrected, with a number of berries that I haven’t previously heard of, which are mainly regional names for the same fruit. Next on my list: fish.

Barberry Épine vinette
Bearberry Raisin d’ours, busserole rouge, manzanita
Bilberry Myrtille à gros fruits
Blackberry Mûre
Blueberry Myrtille/airelle
Boysenberry Mûre de Boysen
China berry Lilas des Indes
Chokeberry Aronie noire
Cloudberry Plaquebière/ronce des tourbières/ronce petit-mûrier
Cranberry Canneberge
Crowberry Camarine noire
Dewberry Ronce à flagelles
Elderberry Baie de sureau
Gooseberry Groseille à maquereau
Huckleberry Myrtille
Lingonberry Myrtille rouge
Loganberry Framboise de Logan
Mock Stawberry Fraisier des Indes
Mulberry Mûre
Nannyberry Viorne flexible
Raspberry Framboise
Salal berry Salal
Salmonberry Ronce remarquable
Strawberry Fraise
Thimbleberry Ronce parviflore
Whinberry Myrtille
Whortleberry Myrtille
Wineberry Mûre du Japon
Wolfberry Lyciet de Barbarie

Comments

Brilliant, and clearly covering everything your clients might be offered to eat.
You will rarely need to translate such berries as:
ANGLEBERRY: A fleshy excrescence resembling a very large hautboy strawberry, found growing on the feet of sheep, cattle, etc.
BANEBERRY: poisonous
BEARBERRY: the favourite food of grouse
BUFFALO-BERRY: the edible scarlet fruit of a shrub found on the Upper Missouri

...and that's just up to the letter "b" in the OED.

Excellent! Might have to run to the library this afternoon to do some berry gathering.

An interesting list - but I'm more interested in the situation you were in. Did the English-speakers know what a loganberry was? And if you'd produced framboise de Logan, would the French-speakers have known what it was? Menus (and indeed food in general) seem to be such a minefield for translators because even if you come up with the right lexical item your translatee (!) may not understand it. Even within the UK there are a couple of items on your list that would not be in general use in Scotland - bilberry and blackberry - even though they grow there. And I certainly didn't know, as your list implies, that a mulberry (as in "here we go round the mulberry bush") is the same thing as a blackberry! Also, the word for "myrtille" seems to be very regionally unstable.

Neij.

All good points Neij and yes, "myrtille" seems to be a useful blanket word. In that specific situation, I said that it was "a type of berry" and the French seemed quite happy with that. I doubt anybody would have known "framboise de Logan" and in this type of situation, you have to think of the practical outcome: it doesn't really matter which type of berry it is as long as they got an idea of what the dish was going to be like. No one picked it though.

And mulberries (genus: Morus) are different from blackberries (genus: Rubus), but they are both translated as "mûre".

That's a great list, Celine, well done! Now, the hardest bit is still to be done,i.e. learning and remembering them. Quite taxing when you happen not to be a keen gardener or berryspotter! And just like you, I encounter the same problem with fish. How many times did I conscientiously write the names in my notebook, still to be completely puzzled at a menu, mistaking seabream for seabass! That's the reason why, I think the wallsharts the Guardian has been producing all over the past year are godsends!(although they might be a bit cumbersome to use at the restaurant!) I can now visualise the various species and their French translations since I have also been writing the French equivalent below. Likewise, I find the Visual French Dictionary extremely useful (beware of the Quebec French though).

PS1: The Guardian wallshart "wild fruit and berries" also pictures the "cowberry" (different from the crowberry) also known as the "red whortleberry" which we call "airelle" and serve with venison and poultry in the same manner as Americans use cranberries.
PS2: For "gooseberries", I would specify in French "à maquereau" since there are different varieties of "groseille".
PS3: Why are so many berries called after animals? That's definetely food for thought!

Berries and their names in English are a constant source of confusion in our household. I've always found English and German names to be easier, especially for these few:

strawberry, Erdbeere, fraise
raspberry, Himbeere, framboise
blackberry, Brombeere, mûre de ronce
mulberry, Maulbeere, mûre (de mûrier ?)
gooseberry, Stachelbeere, groseille à maquereau
redcurrant, rote Johannisbeere, groseille rouge (raisinet)
blackcurrant, schwarze Johannisbeere, cassis
whitecurrant, weiße Johannisbeere, groseille blanche

I particularly like the Swiss name "raisinet" for the redcurrant.

Keith.

At Thanksgiving time, when cranberries traditionally find their spot on American tables, I always had to undertake the adventure of trying to find this non-native berry in the marché. I'd understood it to be called "airelle" in France and "canneberge" in French Canada. But you call "airelle" something else! Regional variation, I guess.

And they're possible to find. But only after several weeks of nerve-wracking searching, and only a day before the big fête, when you've practically given up hope!

I find your blog very entertaining, firstly; it is also well-written and educational. Thank you!

Great list!

For fish try http://www.fishbase.org/search.php

It might save errors of the type "net of holy stone" I once saw on a menu!!

I am also confused by berries and fishes, perhaps because they often belong to one place and not to another? The French summer brings us groseille, mirabelle, and reine-claude, whereas in the UK we pick mulberries and damsons. Last week, I had my first snapper, whereas I have eaten many a good rouger.

In Québec and the rest of French-speaking Canada, blueberries are almost never called "myrtilles" but rather "bleuets". This is especially true in the Saguenay-Lac St. Jean region which is called the Kingdom of Blueberries, and whose residents are lovingly referred to as well as "les bleuets".

I have been wondering lately why so many berries are named after animals. Yesterday I partly got an answer while listening to Nature on BBC Radio 4. The programme was about some cranes nesting in East England after a 400-year absence. Apparently cranes used to be an integral part of British culture, and they left a mark in many placenames like Cranfield and in some plants too. Cranberries used to be called "craneberries" since they ripened at the same time that the cranes were migrating in.
So this explanation could be valid for "crowberries", "(wild)gooseberries" and to a certain extent for "wolfberries" and "bearberries".

Previous
Diary of a fledgling translator, Part 1
June 6, 2007

Next
More translators' blogs
June 13, 2007