Tracing the Crane’s Berry

The English ‘cranberry’ arrived from the Low German Kraanbere, meaning ‘crane-berry’. Early settlers in New England borrowed the name when they saw the flowers arching like a crane’s neck. Across Europe, the same image takes flight: Danish and Norwegian tranebær, Swedish tranbär, German Kranbeere, and Dutch veenbes. Southern languages took another route—Italian mirtillo rosso, Spanish arándano rojo, and French canneberge. Each word tells a small story of migration, from northern bogs to North American marshes, where the berry’s name, like the plant itself, took root in new soil.