rowan

Etymology

It is a borrowing from early Scandinavian,^[2][3][4][5] first used in Scotland and the north of England.^[2][6][7] The OED compares Norwegian rogn, Nynorsk raun, and, with an i-mutating suffix, Old Norse reynir, rönn and røn.^[2][4][8] It is probably a derivative, with a nasal suffix, of the base of rauðr (“red”),^[2] named after the red berries,^[7][9] and so related to red and rēad.^[10][9] Etymonline cites Watkins for the root Proto-Indo-European *reudh- (“red”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The berry of the tree: about 1440, in Sir Eglamour.^[2] The tree itself was first called rowan-tree, rawntre in the late 15th century and rountree in the 1540s.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

Until the 19th century the word was used almost only in Scotland and the north of England; elsewhere in Britain the tree was earlier called quickbeam, and later mountain ash.^[2] Etymonline dates rowan alone as the name of the tree to 1804,^[7] the OED to 1751.^[2] The English Dialect Dictionary records it in Scotland, Ireland, Durham, Cumberland and Yorkshire, in forms such as ran, roan and rown.^[11] Throughout Britain the rowan was the tree most often believed to protect against witchcraft: its wood was used for churn-staffs, whips and cradles, and its twigs were hung over doors and beds.^[12] Etymonline quotes an 1876 account from Fife of people who believed that a slip of rowan carried on the body made sorcery powerless.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – the red berry of the tree.^[2]
• late 15th century – rawntre, the tree.^[7][4]
• 1540s – rountree.^[7]
• 1751 – rowan, the tree.^[2] Etymonline dates this to 1804.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The European mountain ash, a small tree with pinnate leaves, white flowers and clusters of red berries; also any of several related trees.^[13][10][2]
2. Its red berry, a rowanberry.^[10][2][4]

Word family

• rowanberry

Related words

• red

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve (2000), A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins