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mulberry

MUHL-behr-ee · noun

LatinProto-West GermanicOld EnglishMiddle Low GermanMiddle EnglishEnglish

Origin

The word comes from Middle English mulbery, molberye, or murberie, partly from Old English mōrberġe, and probably partly from Middle Low German mulbere. Both ultimately trace to a Proto-West Germanic form combining Latin mōrus with Proto-West Germanic *baʀi ('berry').

Journey

The facts don't show a shift in meaning — the word seems to have referred to the same fruit throughout its history, only its spelling and pronunciation shifting as it passed from Old English through Middle English forms.

Related words

It's a cousin of Dutch moerbezie/moerbei and German Maulbeere, both descending from the same Proto-West Germanic root, and it shares its second half with the ordinary English word 'berry.'

More words

From Middle Low German

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