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Origin and history of raspberry

raspberry(n.)

"small, tart, reddish fruit" 1600s, earlier called raspis (1530s) with spelling variants including raspas, raspice, raspys, raspes, rasbes. Originally also used of blackberries, strawberries, gooseberries and other fruits interchangeable in culinary and medicinal use, but not botanically related. A word of uncertain origin.

Possibly it is from Latin raspacia, raspaticium, raspetum, a type of tart wine, with the fruit so called either from the berries coming to substitute for the original grapes (grapes require warmer climates than raspberries) or perhaps because the berries were thought to resemble the wine's flavor. Rospeys, rayspeys, rospyse and raspise are all documented 15c. English names for this wine.

Wyne Raspoticium (dutche men call it rappis) Raspish wyne [...] it is made in this wyse. Some sower grapes together with the rype are put in the wyne pres to be prest out together. Or yt is better, let the grapes be kepte and brooken together with Raspaciis, & put into the vessell with the Must: That Must or newe wyne, by the iuice of this Raspacia (Scapos Frenche men cal grappes, our contrymen rappen, wherupon the wyne taketh the name) or kirnels in the grapes whiche are sower, dothe get a certain ponticitie or tast lyke wormwood and bynding: Arnoldus de Villa Noua. In our contrey they make it otherwyse, they fyll the wyne vessels with holl clusters well rypet, and power old wyn in to them, and as often as they drawe any wyne out of it, they fill it againe. [The treasure of Euonymus, Translated (with great diligence, et laboure) out of Latin, by Peter Morvvying. 1559.]

Ultimately the wine gets its name from Medieval Latin raspa, "grape" (by 13c.); but compare the old Italian word ráspo, defined by Florio's dictionary (1590s) as "the fruit or berrie called Raspise."

The old suggestion that it is from a Germanic source akin to English rasp (v.), with an original sense of "rough berry," based on appearance, is perhaps folk etymology. Older English names for the raspberry include hindberry, framboys and briar Idaea.

By 1733 the name was used of the plant itself, native to Europe and Asiatic Russia. The name was applied to a similar shrub in North America. As the name for a color between pink and scarlet, by 1832, originally in medical literature. The meaning "rude sound" (1890) is shortening of raspberry tart, rhyming slang for fart.

also from 1600s

Entries linking to raspberry

rasp(v.)

mid-13c., raspen, "to scrape, abrade by rubbing with a coarsely rough instrument or something like one," from Middle Dutch raspen and from Old French rasper (Modern French râper) "to grate, rasp," which is ultimately from a West Germanic source (compare Old English gehrespan, Old High German hrespan "to rake together") for which see raffle (n.). The vocalic sense is from 1843. Related: Rasped; rasping.

razz(v.)

"to hiss or deride," 1920, from the noun, in to give (someone) the razz (by 1919), a shortened and altered variant of raspberry (q.v.) in its rhyming slang sense. Related: Razzed; razzing.

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    Trends of raspberry

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    boo
    early 15c., boh, "A combination of consonant and vowel especially fitted to produce a loud and startling sound" [OED, which compares Latin boare, Greek boaein "to cry aloud, roar, shout"]; as an expression of disapproval, 1884 (n.); hence, the verb meaning "shower (someone) with
    hoot
    "to call or shout in disapproval or scorn," c. 1600, probably related to or a variant of Middle English houten, huten "to shout, call out" (c. 1200), which is more or less imitative of the sound of the thing. First used of bird cries, especially that of the owl, mid-15c. Meaning
    bird
    "feathered, warm-blooded vertebrate animal of the class Aves," Old English bird, a rare collateral form of bridd, originally meaning "young bird, nestling" (the usual Old English for "bird" being fugol, for which see fowl (n.)), which is of uncertain origin with no cognates in an
    shout
    c. 1300, shouten, schowten "to call or cry out loudly," a word of unknown origin; perhaps from the root of shoot (v.) on the notion of "throw the voice out loudly," or related to Old Norse skuta "a taunt" (compare scout (v.2)); both of which are reconstructed to be from PIE root
    south
    Old English suþ "southward, to or toward the south, southern, in the south," from Proto-Germanic *sunthaz, perhaps literally "sun-side" (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian suth "southward, in the south," Middle Dutch suut, Dutch zuid, German Süden), and related to base of *sun
    yell
    Old English giellan (West Saxon), gellan (Mercian) "to yell, sound, shout," class III strong verb (past tense geal, past participle gollen), from Proto-Germanic *gel- (source also of Old Norse gjalla "to resound," Middle Dutch ghellen, Dutch gillen, Old High German gellan, German
    cry
    mid-13c., "yell (something) out, utter" (transitive); c. 1300, "beg, implore; speak earnestly and loudly; advertise by calling out," from Old French crier, from Vulgar Latin *critare, from Latin quiritare "to wail, shriek" (source of Italian gridare, Old Spanish cridar, Spanish a
    call
    mid-13c., "cry out; call for, summon, invoke; ask for, demand, order; give a name to, apply by way of designation," from Old Norse kalla "cry loudly, summon in a loud voice; name, call by name," from Proto-Germanic *kall- (source also of Middle Dutch kallen "speak, say, tell," Du
    bush
    "many-stemmed woody plant," from Old English bysc (found in place names), from West Germanic *busk "bush, thicket" (source also of Old Saxon and Old High German busc, Dutch bosch, bos, German Busch). Influenced by or combined with Old French (busche "firewood") and Medieval Latin
    cheer
    c. 1200, "the face, countenance," especially as expressing emotion, from Anglo-French chere "the face," Old French chiere "face, countenance, look, expression," from Late Latin cara "face" (source also of Spanish cara), possibly from Greek kara "head" (from PIE root *ker- (1) "ho

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