What’s In A Name?
A couple years ago my husband and I went out searching for wildflowers (such as California poppies, lupine, California lilac) after a series of invigorating showers. We decided that it was still too early for most but as we meandered home through Temecula we came upon a winery we had not visited before.
Almost everyone is familiar with the Napa Valley region for wineries but Temecula in Southern California has a robust industry of really yummy wines. And there are so many wineries and such a variety between them that they can’t all be appreciated in a day, or two, or ten.
One of the more isolated wineries that we just happened upon is called Sierra Roble. That is Spanish for Mountain Oak. Which got me thinking…
What does one call oaks in other languages? Oak trees are a most beloved wood. There must be other names. So I asked Google:
Afrikaans—eikehout
Arabic—bilut
Danish—egetræ
French—chêne
German—Eiche
Hawaiian—‘Oko
Irish—darach
Italian—quercia
Latin—quercus
Maori—oki
Norwegian—eik
Spanish—roble
Swedish—ek
Welsh--derw
Zulu—i-oki
**Do keep in mind that even within one language there will also be different names for the different types of oaks. In Spanish there is also encina (Holm oak), alcornioque (cork oak), etc.
To name just a few.
I did not include any language which used another alphabet (no offense) because I would have no hope of pronouncing it. Not that I can pronounce some of these with confidence either….
12/23