On 9/12/2010 4:11 PM, Bob W wrote:
A grape is a berry of the vine. the /owa/ part of rowan has the same etymology as the word uva (Latin for grape), related also to oin- as in oinophile from the Greek word, which also gave rise to the English words wine and vine, through French vin, vigne etc. No doubt right back to the proto-Indo-European. Your word ryabina looks to me as though it has a similar etymology as rowan with the /b/ having substituted for /v/ or /w/, which is very common. It wouldn't surprise me at all if some European languages used the same word for both berry and grape.
Googled etymology of Russian word "ryabina" and it turns out to be different than you suggest. But no matter. Thank you for your explanation. It is most interesting. It also proves that normally a person would have only one mother's tongue or native language, because the knowledge of what you provided requires very special training unless it is something one gets gratis from their native language lessons in school.
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