Word of the Week: třešeň – ‘cherry’
The Czech word for the cherry tree or fruit (třešeň) may now begin with a T, but it can be reconstructed back to a prehistoric Slavic word like *čerša.
That in turn was a borrowing of Late Latin ceresia, a word for the fruit that the Romans had themselves taken from the Greeks. Many ordinary words have been on quite impressive geographical journeys!
From those southern, Mediterranean climes, that ancient word for ‘cherry’ travelled northwards, not only into the Slavic languages, but also into the Germanic languages. Among them, Modern German calls the fruit Kirsche. Meanwhile, later medieval English speakers reinterpreted the Old English word ċirse and Norman French cherise as a plural word, and so they cut off its final S to create a new singular form – hence, cherry.
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Word of the Week
Danny Bate, our resident linguist, offers a selection of everyday Czech words, to discuss their history and show how interconnected and familiar the Czech language can be.
