MŮRE / blackberry

“můre“, pronounced [mʊ:ə̯r] 🔊, is the Sarkese word for “blackberry”, the fruit of any plant of the genus Rubus, known as bramble in English and “ronche” in Sarkese, raspberries excluded. Unlike with the other bush berries, “framběze“, raspberry, or “fraze“, strawberry, the distinction between the fruit, “můre“, and the plant, “ronche” is functional and respected in common speech, like in English.

origin: Gallo-Romance / first recorded for Sarkese: 1889 (EE) / current status in the 21st century: preserved, in use

“můre” is a feminine invariable countable noun (a she-word that doesn’t change in plural). We may say “une můre”, a/one blackberry, “dê můre”, (some) blackberries etc. The pronunciation is regular, though it should be noted that the contact between the simple ‘ů’-[ʊ] and the final ‘-re’, makes the ‘ů’ pronounced as a long [ʊ:ə̯], as if the word were written “mû̥re”.

The Sarkese “můre”, which was first recorded by E. Edmont in 1889, is directly related to the Jersey Norman “mouaithe” and the Guernsey Norman “maeure”, as well as to the French “mûre”, which all originate from the Latin “morum”, meaning blackberry too, as well as mulberry.

(MN)

Citation: NEUDÖRFL, Martin. můre/blackberry. In: Sark Norman Dictionary Online [on-line]. https://www.bonjhur.net/sndo-vocab-flora-mure

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