whimberryとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From earlier winberry, a variant of wineberry with regular shortening of the first vowel before a consonant cluster (in wineberry this was prevented or reversed due to analogy). Wineberry is derived from 中期英語 winberie, wineberie (“grape; type of berry”), from 古期英語 wīnberġe, wīnberie (“grape”, literally “wine-berry”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīnabaʀi, from Proto-Germanic *wīnabasją (“grape; wineberry”), from *wīną (“wine”) (from Latin vīnum (“wine”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- (“to twist, wind; etc.”), referring to the vine) + *bazją (“berry”) (further etymology unknown).

The assimilation of /nb/ to /mb/ seen in some forms is to be expected (compare hemp from 古期英語 henep). Other forms show the influence of unrelated words; the consonantism of forms with initial wh- is probably due to the influence of whin (“furze, gorse (Ulex europaeus); similar prickly plant”), while windberry clearly represents remodelling as wind +‎ berry.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈʍɪmbəɹi/, (wine–whine merger) /ˈwɪmbəɹi/
• (General American) IPA: /ˈʍɪmˌbɛɹi/, (wine–whine merger) /ˈwɪmˌbɛɹi/
• ハイフネーション: whim‧ber‧ry

名詞

whimberry (plural whimberries)

1. (UK, dialectal) The bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus).
   • 1871, C. S. Gregson, “Varieties and Aberrations of Lepidoptera”, in Edward Newman, editor, The Entomologist‎, 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, 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, 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.

別の表記

• whinberry, wimberry, winberry, windberry

参照

Further reading

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