Gooseberry - etymology

by Anne Ward

MEET  THE OLD ROUGH  RED AND HAIRY  AMBER OTHERWISE  KNOWN  AS  THE  GOOSEBERRY

Taken  from  the  Dutch (Kruisbes)  German (Karausbeire)  Latin (Grossularia)

Known in the  (Specipic epithet) as Uva Crispa  meaning Curved Grape

 

This  hard skinned, hairy green or red sour fruit has been growing in our hedgerows for hundreds of years, growing between 3 to 10 feet tall, people have used it to make jams, wine, crumbles and fools.

  It was used as medicine in the middle ages for cooling  raging fevers, hence the English name  (Fea berry) ,  also in Scotland as the (Grozit)  and in Norway as  (Stikkelsbaer or prickly  berry).

       In  the  18^th  century it  became  a cottage garden plant, popular in Lancashire, grown and developed in to the larger rounder fruit we recognise today by the cotton spinners, who prized it for it’s vitamin C content.

            The  phrase (Found  under  a   Gooseberry  Bush )

Was  a 19^th century slang  term  for (Pubic Hair),  so when as a child we asked our  parents were we came from and the answer was (Under the Gooseberry Bush)   we were given a true reply