A huckleberry is a type of berry found in North America. What's the translation of "huckleberry" in French?
Google Translate and DeepL didn't help. Google Translate mentioned "airelle" but that looks like a different fruit. (airelle is red)
asked Jan 8, 2023 at 23:59
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4Airelle is not that wrong, as it refers to the Vaccinia family. But it's like saying apple when you want to know if it's a golden or a granny smith. However, you'll almost always find airelle as a direct translation for cranberry in french (even though the best translation is canneberge).– LyzvaleskaCommented Jan 9, 2023 at 15:08
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There is no exact translation: huckleberry is a vulgar name covering distinct species, in the genera Vaccinium and Gaylussacia. According to en.Wkt, it derives from Engl. hurtileberry, which translates to myrtille or airelle depending on the context. To denote the whole genus Vaccinium, "les airelles" is OK in French-speaking Europe.– François JurainCommented Sep 6 at 10:26
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Gaylussacia had no representative in Eurasia when huckleberries were first named. Try airelle du Canada if your purpose is to keep your readers perplexed.– François JurainCommented Sep 6 at 10:29
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1There are many berries from NA that do not grow natively in France. Therefore, there's not always a proper translation other than the Latin or descriptive name.– LambieCommented Sep 6 at 13:58
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@None thanks, this is good to know, you're welcome to post your comment as an answer. Sometimes the answer is that there's no good translation :)– Franck DernoncourtCommented Sep 6 at 15:26
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5 Answers
From these sources, that would be a baie de gaylussaquier.
Baie (like berry) is the generic term for these small fruits but gaylussaquier (gaylussacia) is new to me although I recognize Gay Lussac in it. Gaylussaquier was coined after the Latin name Gaylussacia that was given to this plant in the early 19th century.
As already answered, airelle is another generic name that come to mind in French to name such fruits:
Source: Dictionary of the French and English languages, F. E. A. Gasc, London, 1877
This particular one is also named airelle corymbifère:
Source: Second rapport du Comité sénatorial chargé de recueillir des renseignements sur les produits alimentaires naturels des Territoires du Nord-Ouest et sur les meilleurs moyens de conserver et d'augmenter ces ressources, Ottawa, 1887.
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1I suspect "gaylussaquier" may be a word coined by the Québec government from the scientific name for these plants, so that Québecois won't call these things "huckleberries". I don't know whether it will be any more successful than the Académie française's efforts to expunge anglicisms from the French language. Commented Jan 11, 2023 at 13:31
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@PeterShor The Latin name is much easier to convert to French than the English one so it's its natural translation. Huckleberry might have given heuquelberges though ;-) just like kraanbeere/cranberries gave canneberges.– jlliagreCommented Jan 11, 2023 at 15:47
Huckleberries are a North American berry that I suspect is unknown in France; it's not clear there's a French word for them.
Linguée suggests airelle myrtille and airelle fausse-myrtille. These literally mean something like cranberry blueberry and cranberry false blueberry.
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3S'il y a un nom commun pour l'huckleberry, il doit être québecois, parce qu'ils y poussent. Commented Jan 9, 2023 at 13:29
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À un moment donné il y avait un contributeur vraiment féru de ces sujets fort intéressants, @pasunclue, peut-être qu'un jour il va voir ça et ajouter une réponse, j'ai peur de ne pas avoir ce contact et cette connaissance de la nature, malheureusement.– 0-One-0Commented Jan 9, 2023 at 16:56
Huckleberry seems to be a generic name. There are various types of berries in North America commonly called "huckleberries" and they can be given different names as we can see on the site of the Wild Huckleberry Association. Huckleberries are mostly wild, they don't domesticate easily as pointed out by the University of Idaho and this is probably why they can be found under so many local names. Even the same exact species can have several different names, as we can verify on the site of the Wild Huckleberry Association. Blueberry and bilberry are probably terms that will be more familiar to a European audience where huckleberries are concerned.
In France we usually call them myrtilles (also a generic term), in Britain bilberries (also a generic term) but they probably aren't the same exact species you are looking at.
So I would say that, whatever the translation, it can only be an approximation and, as said in a comment by Lambie, if we want to be accurate we have to use the Latin name, but of course no one uses the Latin name unless they are a botanist.
If you are looking at the huckleberry species Vaccinium myrtillus then I would confidently say we call it myrtille because it is a common species in France. Vaccinium uliginosum (also listed on Huckleberry Species page is also commonly called myrtille but to be precise it should be myrtille des marais or Airelle des marais and Airelle des marécages in Québec. In the Vosges they are called Brimbelles and brimbelles are probably to the Vosges what huckleberries are to Idaho.
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Funny story: I had a Portuguese fellow assert to me that cranberries are uva dos montes (mountain grape), which is funny because they grow in bogs. huckleberries are not much sold in supermarkets (only fancy places like Whole Foods) as they are wild berries, and cannot be commercially grown.– LambieCommented Sep 6 at 18:00
Termes/sources utiles :
Gaylussaccia (GDT)
Airelle à longues étamines (GDT)
Myrtille (GDT)
Gaylussacia/gaylussaquier à fruits bacciformes (Termium : « Il n'y a pas de nom vernaculaire pour cette espèce de plantes. »)
Gaylussaquier à fruits bacciformes (Herbier du Québec)
Gaylussaccia à fruits bacciformes (Flore Laurentienne, Fr. Marie-Victorin, 1935, BanQ, 432, 438, 441)
Vocabulaire des petits fruits (OQLF)
Huckleberry in french is "Airelle"
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1Do you have a source for this (other than, say, Google translate)? In French, airelle usually means a different, related kind of berry. Commented Jan 9, 2023 at 15:25