☙ Whortleberry

Vaccinium myrtillus L. (1753). WFO BD HP:FE CHW

Period Breton (brezhoneg): gwi-luce [sic] (I was unable to confirm this - but 'lus' confirmed); LB luzen [sic] [lusenn] f. LB

Period English: whortle-berry (whortle berry, whortleberry); ▲︎ bilberry. O&B

Period French: airelle f.; BD myrtile f.; CLT LA-M aire m. (from the Occitan for 'black bay'); LB airelle anguleuse f. (angular whortleberry); BD airelle myrtille f. (blueberry whortleberry); LB aradec; LB bluet m. ('little blue', now appears restrained to Canada, referring to fruit of); LB brimballier ('wanderer'?); LB brimbelles f., pl. (via onomatopaeic 'brimb-', expressing smallness); LB catelinette f.; LB catelinier; LB ❗︎ gueule noire f. (lit. 'black face', a miner); LB macerot m.; LB moret m.; LB moureflier; LB mouret m. (now localised to Normandy?); LB mirthill f. (antiquated version of myrtille); FDE pourriot; LB raisin de bois m. ('wood-grape'); LB raisin de bruyĂšre m. ('heath-grape'); LB raisin noir des bois m. ('black wood-grape'); CLT? vaciet m. LB

Period German: Heidelbeere f.; A&S HeidelbeerblĂŒthe f. (blossom); JRV

Medieaval Latin?: baccinium. BD

Sentiments:

🏶︎ TrahisonTreason ◼︎ (1819-1825). CLT LA-M

 Treason ▲︎◆︎ (1825-1884); HP:FE TTA CHW TM S&K GAL JS KG

 Treachery ▲︎◆︎ (1839-1884); FS TM FSO S&K HGA:LPF GAL RT:LOF KG

Blossom:

🏶︎ Ich theile Gut und Blut mit dir.I will share thick and thin with you. ●︎ (c.1880). JRV

Region:

Native: Temperate to northern Europe and Asia (excepting Sardinia, Sicily, Turkey in Europe, Crete, the Aegean Islands, Cyprus, Crimea, and southern European Russia); Japan; Greenland; Iceland; Northwestern and Western USA; Western Canada.WFO

Seasonality: Deciduous shrub, flowering spring (April to May in northern hemisphere), and fruiting late summer (July to September in northern hemisphere).

Period Colours: TBC.

Heraldry: TBC.

Cited Verse:

❧ Both sources HP:FE and CHW give the following quote, attributed to 'Anon.' (noting that CHW heavily cribbed from earlier works):

 Come, stain your face with whortle-berry.

 I cannot locate this quote, but have managed to find the following line:

 Come, stain your cheeks with nut or berry.

 This comes from the song ❗︎ 'The Gypsies' Glee' from the 1796 London Theatre Royal show Harlequin and Oberon, lyrics by James Wild, music by ◆︎ William Reeve (Read Here). I propose that Phillips either misremembered the lyrics to Reeve/Wild's song, or - given the way musical pieces disseminated at the time - he had heard the song performed outside of its original context, the lyrics altered by another contemporary performer.

đŸœ± On sentiments: The sentiment of treason relates to a tradition of poachers blacking their faces to avoid identification when carrying out illegal acts. This history was distilled in British law in the Black Act of 1723, 9 Geo. 1. c. 22, which outlawed the practice with a potential sentence of death for anyone caught disguised. There is significant overlap within this history with class disputes, given the act of poaching was a raid by the commoners against landowners, and also in English-Scottish relations and Jacobite history, although scholarly opinion remains divided on whether the raiders were, in fact, allied with the Jacobites at all.

In a contemporary context this action, of blacking the face, is associated entirely with the racist mockery of dark-skinned people, and one is advised to make it explicitly clear the context when presenting a person with a blacked face in a fictional work. The practice should not be attempted at all in contemporary settings. However, when approaching historical depictions of face-blacking, this alternate explanation should also be considered.

I note also that, if my hypothesis regarding Reeve/Wild's song quoted by Phillips is correct, then there is no evidence that I can see that the line refers to face-blacking for disguise - rather, the characters within that play are celebrating, and joyfully consuming food in mirth that accidentally stains their faces as they cast their concerns aside.

Please note that the word 'g---y' is considered a slur by the peoples to whom it refers to, and should not be used by outsiders to the community.


In Fabre d'Églantine's 1793 rural emblem annex to the French Republican calendar, Myrtille is the emblem of 29 Germinal (18 April).


Abécédaire de Flore

B. DelachĂ©naye, 1811 ◼︎


NOMS DES FLEURS
substituées aux syllabes formées de plusieurs lettres.

NOM DES FLEURS. MOTS ANALOGUES.
33. airelle. gaieté, j'aimai, jedonnai.


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DESCRIPTION DES PLANTES
DE L’ABÉCÉDAIRE DE FLORE.

QUATRIÉME PLANCHE.


 33. Airelle anguleuse, Vaccinium Myrtillus, Lin. C’est Ă  la ressemblance qu’a cet arbuste avec le Myrte qu’il doit son surnom, comme il fut jadis appelĂ© Baccinium, Ă  cause du grand nombre de baies dont il se charge. Dans le fait, haut d’un demi-mĂštre et plus (un pied et demi Ă  deux), il est trĂšs rameux et trĂšs fourni de feuilles de la forme et de la grandeur de celles du Myrte: ses fleurs en grelot, nombreuses et blanches, se convertissent en baies d’un bleu foncĂ©, comme le sont encore celles du Myrte. On le trouve dans les parties ombragĂ©es des bois en Europe. Quelques amateurs le cultivent dans leurs jardins en terre de bruyĂšre, un peu ombragĂ©e et tenue fraĂźche.


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La Flore de la Manche

LĂ©on Besnou, 1881 ◼︎

G. Vaccinium L. — Airelle.

De Vacca, vache; plante recherchĂ©e des vaches; ou de áœ‘ÎŹÎșÎčÎœÎžÎżÏ‚, couleur d'hyacinthe, de pourpre; allusion Ă  la belle couleur pourpre du suc de l'airelle myrtille.


V. MYRTILLUS L. — A. MYRTILLE ( Vitis Idéa foliis oblongis, crenatis, fructu nigricante CBP.) Vaciet, Mouret, Moret, Catelinier, Catelinette, Aire, Aradec, Brimballier, Macerot, Pourriot, Raisin de bois, de bruyùre, Gueule noire, Moureflier, Brimbelles, Bluet. Bret. Gwi-luce, Luzen. Angl. Black whortle, Common Blue Berry. All. Heidelbeere, schwarzer Heidebeer. Ital. Myrtille, Mortella. —Ling. — Avril-mai. C. manque dans la Hague, prùs Cherbourg.

Ses gruits sont alimentaires, aigrelets.


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