Names
Vaccinium vitis-idaea is most commonly known in English as lingonberry or cowberry. The name lingonberry originates from the Swedish name lingon for the species.
The genus name Vaccinium is derived from the Latin word vaccinium ("of or relating to cows", from vacca "cow") for a type of berry (possibly the bilberry, Vaccinium myrtillus). The specific name is derived from the New Latin word for lingonberries, vitis-idaea; itself ultimately derived from Latin vitis ("vine") and idaea, the feminine form of idaeus (literally "from Mount Ida", used in reference to raspberries, Rubus idaeus).
There are at least twenty-five other common names of Vaccinium vitis-idaea worldwide. Other names include csejka berry, foxberry, quailberry, beaverberry, mountain cranberry, red whortleberry, bearberry, lowbush cranberry, cougarberry, mountain bilberry, partridgeberry (in Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island), and redberry (in Labrador). Because the names mountain cranberry and lowbush cranberry perpetuate the longstanding confusion between the cranberry and the lingonberry, some botanists have suggested that these names should be avoided.
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