Editing Rowan (section)

==Names==
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}
The Latin name ''sorbus'' was borrowed into [[Old English]] as ''syrfe''. The Latin name ''sorbus'' is from a root for "red, reddish-brown" ([[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] ''*sor-/*ser-''); English ''sorb'' is attested from the 1520s in the sense "fruit of the service tree", adopted via French ''sorbe'' from Latin ''sorbum'' "service-berry".
''Sorbus domestica'' is also known as "whitty pear", the adjective whitty meaning "[[pinnate]]". The name "mountain-ash" for ''Sorbus domestica'' is due to a superficial similarity of the rowan leaves to those of the [[Fraxinus|ash]], not to be confused with ''[[Fraxinus ornus]]'', a true ash that is also known as "mountain ash".<ref>"The similarities in the physical characteristics of all three types of tree [viz., ''Fraxinus excelsior'', ''Fraxinus ornus'', and ''Sorbus aucuparia''] are pervasive enough that they are confused not only in folk terminology, but also in botanical nomenclature". Richard Stoll Shannon (1975). ''The Arms of Achilles and Homeric Compositional Technique'' Volume 36 of ''Mnemosyne'', (Brill), [https://books.google.com/books?id=CLcfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA41 p. 41]. The English herbalist [[John Gerard]] in 1590 apparently fell victim to just this confusion, equating ''ornus'' and quickbeam (see below).</ref> ''Sorbus torminalis'' is also known as "chequer tree"; its fruits, formerly used to flavour beer, are called "chequers", perhaps from the spotted pattern of the fruit.

The traditional name rowan was applied to the species ''[[Sorbus aucuparia]]''. The name "rowan" is recorded from 1804, detached from an earlier rowan-tree, rountree, attested from the 1540s in northern dialects of English and [[Scots language|Scots]]. It is often thought to be from a [[North Germanic]] source, perhaps related to Old Norse ''reynir'' (cf. Norwegian ''rogn'', Danish ''røn'', Swedish ''rönn''), ultimately from the [[Common Germanic|Germanic]] verb ''[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/raudaz|*raud]][[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/-inōną|-inan]]'' "to redden", in reference to the berries (as is the Latin name ''sorbus''). 
Various dialectal variants of ''rowan'' are found in English, including ''ran'', ''roan'', ''rodan'', ''royan'', ''royne'', ''round'', and ''rune''.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}

The [[Old English]] name of the rowan is ''cwic-beám'', which survives in the name quickbeam (also quicken, quicken-tree, and variants). This name by the 19th century was reinterpreted as connected to the word [[witch (word)|witch]], from a dialectal variant ''wick'' for quick and names such as wicken-tree, wich-tree, wicky, and wiggan-tree, giving rise to names such as [[witch-hazel]]<ref>"Witch-hazel" is much more commonly associated with ''[[Hamamelis]]''.</ref> and witch-tree.<ref>Abram Smythe Palmer, ''Folk-etymology: a Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions Or Words Perverted in Form Or Meaning, by False Derivation Or Mistaken Analogy'' (1882), [https://books.google.com/books?id=fXrlvr_kPXwC&pg=PA443 443f].</ref>

The tree has two names in [[Welsh language|Welsh]], ''cerdinen'' and ''criafol''. Criafol may be translated as "The Lamenting Fruit", likely derived from the Welsh tradition that the [[Christian cross|Cross of Christ]] was carved from the wood of this tree, and the subsequent association of the Rowan's red fruit with the blood of Christ.

The [[Old Irish]] name is ''cairtheand'', reflected in Modern Irish ''caorthann''. The "arboreal" ''[[Bríatharogam]]'' in the ''[[Book of Ballymote]]'' associates the rowan with the letter ''[[Luis (letter)|luis]]'', with the gloss "delightful to the eye (''li sula'') is ''luis'', i.e. rowan (''caertheand''), owing to the beauty of its berries". Due to this, "delight of the eye" (vel sim.) has been reported as a "name of the rowan" by some commentators.{{who|date=July 2013}}

The most common Scots Gaelic name is ''caorann'' ({{IPA|gd|/kɯːrən/}}), which appears in numerous Highland place names such as [[Beinn a' Chaorainn (disambiguation)|Beinn a' Chaorainn]] and [[Loch A' Chaorainn|Loch a’ Chaorainn]]. Rowan was also the clan badge of the Malcolms and McLachlans. There were strong taboos in the Highlands against the use of any parts of the tree save the berries, except for ritual purposes. For example, a Gaelic threshing tool made of rowan and called a buaitean was used on grain meant for rituals and celebrations.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

In the [[Canadian province]]s of [[Newfoundland and Labrador]] and [[Nova Scotia]], this species is commonly referred to as a "dogberry" tree.<ref>Story, G. M. and  Kirwin, W. J. (1990). ''Dictionary of Newfoundland English''. University of Toronto Press. {{ISBN|0-8020-6819-7}}.</ref> 
In [[German language|German]], ''Sorbus aucuparia'' is known as the ''Vogelbeerbaum'' ("bird-berry tree") or as ''Eberesche''. The latter is a compound of the name of the [[ash tree]] (''Esche'') with what is contemporarily the name of the boar (''Eber''), but in fact the continuation of a [[Gaulish]] name, ''eburo-'' (also the name for a dark reddish-brown colour, cognate with Greek ''orphnos'', Old Norse ''iarpr'' "brown"); like ''sorbus'', ''eburo-'' seems to have referred to the colour of the berries; it is also recorded as a Gaulish name for the [[yew]] (which also has red berries), see also ''[[Eburodunum (disambiguation)]]''.