sorbus

Meaning

sorb; service tree; Sorbus domestica

Concepts

rowan

service tree

mountain-ash

sorb

sorb apple

Synonyms

sorbum

Translations

Eberesche

sorbo

sorbier

Sperberbaum

σουρβιά

cormier

sorbo domestico

serbal

Speierling

Vogelbeere

Etymology

Unknown. Pokorny links Russian соробали́на (sorobalína), сорбали́на (sorbalína, “rose hip, blackberry”) and Lithuanian serbentà, serbeñtas (“redcurrant, blackcurrant”) and others (also comparing the verb sir̃bti, sir̃pti (“to ripen”)), reconstructing Proto-Indo-European *ser-, *ser-bʰ- (“red, reddish-brown”). De Vaan maintains that this connection is possible, but adds that the meaning of the root would not be “red”. Instead, these words may be derived from a common non-Indo-European substrate source [Term?] (“berry”). Probably unrelated to sorbeō (“I drink, suck up, slurp”).