Bear's Garlic (Allium ursinum L.)

pharm	Herba Alii ursini
Albanian	Qepë e arushës
Azeri	Yabanı sarımsaq
	Јабаны сарымсаг
Basque	Sube-bedar
Bulgarian	Левурда, Лук мечи
	Levurda, Luk mechi
Chinese (Mandarin)	野蔥 [yě cōng], 野葱 [yě cōng]
	Ye cong
Croatian	Crijemuž, Medvjeđi luk, Srijemuž
Czech	Medvědí česnek, Česnek medvědí
Danish	Ramsløg
Dutch	Daslook, Beerlook, Berelook, Borslook, Hondsknoflook, Wilde Knoflook, Woutknooploock
English	Ramson, Wild garlic
Esperanto	Sovaĝa ajlo
Estonian	Karulauk
Farsi	سیرخرس
	Sirkhirs
Finnish	Karhunlaukka
French	Ail sauvage, Ail des ours
Gaelic	Creamh
Galician	Allo de urso
German	Bärlauch, Wilder Knoblauch, Waldknoblauch, Ramsen
Greek	Άγριο σκόρδο
	Agrio skordo
Hungarian	Medvehagyma
Italian	Erba orsina, Aglio orsino
Japanese	ラムソムズ
	Ramusomuzu
Korean	곰파
	Kompa
Latvian	Lakši, Laksis, Mežloks
Lithuanian	Meškinis česnakas
Norwegian	Ramsløk, Ramslauk
Polish	Czosnek niedźwiedzi
Portuguese	Alho-porró, Alho-de-urso
Romanian	Leurdă
Russian	Дикий чеснок, Лук медвежий, Чеснок медвежий; Черемша
	Dikij chesnok, Luk medvezhi, Chesnok medvezhi; Cheremsha (possibly A. ursinum or A. victorialis)
Slovak	Cesnak medvedí, Medvedí cesnak
Slovenian	Čemaž, Divji česen, Medvedji česen
Spanish	Ajo silvestre, Ajo de oso
Swedish	Ramslök
Turkish	Yabanî sarımsak, Ayı sarımsağı
Ukrainian	Цибуля ведмежа
	Tsybulya vedmezha

Fresh leaf or bear's garlic

Young leaves, preferably fresh. They should be harvested before the plants starts flowering. The bulb, being much smaller than that of garlic, is only rarely used.

Alliaceae (onion family).

Similar to garlic, but less strong and with a hint of chives.

Similar to garlic, bear's garlic contains a large number of sulfur compounds: divinyl sulfide, dimethyl thiosulfonate, methyl cystein sulfoxide and the latter's degradation products, methyl allyl thiosulfonate and methanethiol.

Flower of bear's garlic

Native to Western and Central Europe.

In the USA, ramp (Allium tricoccum), a wild plant with more onion-like flavour, is used for similar purposes.

English ramson (Old English hramsan) is of unclear origin; cognates are found in several Germanic (e.g., Swedish ramslök and regional German Ramsen) and Slavonic languages (e.g., Russian cheremsha [черемша]). There are, however, a few possibly related words in other Indo-European tongues: Greek krommyon [κρόμμυον] and Sanskrit krimighna [कृमिघ्न] “onion”, and maybe Welsh craf “garlic”.

With the apparent exception of Northern Germanic, many names of bear's garlic in European tongues translate to “bear's garlic”, “bear's leek” or “bear's onion”. The following table gives an overview:

language	name	translation	“bear”
German	Bärlauch	bear's leek	Bär
Dutch	beerlook	bear's garlic	beer
Latin	Allium ursinum	bear's garlic	ursus
Italian	erba orsina	bear's herb	orso
French	ail des ours	garlic of bears	ours
Walloon	A des oûsses	garlic of bears	???
Spanish	ajo de oso	garlic of bear	oso
Albanian	qepë e arushë	onion of bears	arush
Polish	czosnek niedźwiedzi	bear's garlic	niedźwiedź
Czech	medvědí česnek	bear's garlic	mědved
Slovak	cesnak medvedi	bear's garlic	medved
Russian	chesnok medvezhij [чеснок медвежий]	bear's garlic	medved [медведь]
Russian	luk medvezhij [лук медвежий]	bear's onion	medved [медведь]
Ukrainian	tsybulya vedmezha [цибуля ведмежа]	bear's onion	vedmid [ведмідь]
Bulgarian	luk mechi [лук мечи]	bear's onion	mechok [мечок]
Croatian	medvjeđi luk	bear's onion	medvjed
Slovenian	medvedji česen	bear's garlic	medved
Farsi	sirkhirs [سیرخرس]	bear's garlic	khirs [خرس]
Hungarian	medvehagyma	bear's onion	medve
Finnish	karhunlaukka	bear's onion	karhu
Estonian	karulauk	bear's onion	karu
Latvian	lakši, laksis	?	lācis
Lithuanian	meškinis česnakas	bear's garlic	meška

Bear's garlic in early springtime

Romanian leurdă also belongs to that series, being composed of an element (a)le- “garlic” (from Latin allium) and a second element -urda related to Modern Romanian urs “bear”. Bulgarian levurda [левурда] was borrowed from Romanian.

I do not know what the associations with bears are motivated by; allegedly, there is common belief that bears, after having ended their winter sleep in spring, first feed on bear's garlic.

The name bear is common to all Germanic tongues (Old English bera, Old Norse bjǫrn); in contemporary languages, we have for example German Bär, Dutch beer or Swedish björn. The name is a euphemism originally signifying just “the brown one”, being derived from an Indo-European root BHER- “brown”; an alternative, yet less plausible, explanation relates bear to Greek ther [θήρ] “animal” and Latin ferus “wild” (Indo-European GHWER- “beast”). It appears that the Germanic peoples avoided uttering the “true” name of the bear, fearing that the invocation of the name might make the dangerous animal appear.

Bear's garlic, shortly before flower

Bear's garlic (wilting leaves and unripe fruits)

A similar “taboo concept” lies behind Russian medved [медведь] and its Slavonic cognates with the literal meaning “honey-eater”. Russian med [мед] “honey” has relatives in almost any Indo-European language. In the Germanic languages, we find almost identical words for “honey-wine”: English mead (Old English meodu or medu), German Met and Icelandic mjöðr, all go back to Common Germanic MEDUZ. Non-Germanic examples include Latvian medus “honey”, Sanskrit madhu [मधु] “sweet” and Old Greek methy [μέθυ] “(honey)wine”, which lies behind the name of a wine-coloured semi-precious stone, amethyst. All these correspond to an Indo-European root MEDHU meaning “sweet; honey” (see also licorice and almond for more “sweet” words).

Mead played a dominant rôle in ancient Germanic culture. The beverage is mentioned in the very first song of the Poetic Edda, völuspá, as being drunk by the all-wise giant Mimir: dreccr miöð Mímir morgin hverian “Mimir each morning his mead drinks”. Germanic peoples of historical time were well known for their large consume of mead; Northern Germanic (Viking) kings had their throne typically in a large wooden mead-hall. Cf. also the multiple occurrences of mead in the Beowulf poem, and the name of Beowulf's own hall, meduseld “mead-hall”. The name Beowulf itself literally means “bee-wolf” and thus “bear”; the reference is that bears often steal honey from beehives.

The true Indo-European name of the bear is RKSOS, probably meaning “destroyer”; it appears in Latin ursus and Greek arktos [ἄρκτος] “bear”; the latter term was also used to denote the constellation Great Bear (also known as the Great Dipper) and thus became a general term for “north”.

Many languages have a name for bear's garlic signifying “wild garlic”: French ail sauvage, Greek agrio skordo [άγριο σκόρδο], Russian dikij chesnok [дикий чеснок] and Turkish yabanî sarımsak may serve as examples. Cf. also Chinese ye cong [野葱] “wild onion”. Another, less common, denomination is “garlic of the forest”: Dutch woutknooploock and Spanish ajo silvestre. Quite confusingly, the Bulgarian name div chesun [див чесън] “wild garlic” does not mean bear's garlic but chives.

See also garlic.

Plants for a Future: Plant Portrait of Allium ursinum, Wild Garlic (www.scs.leeds.ac.uk) Sorting Allium names (www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au) Pflanzen des Capitulare de Villis: Bärlauch (biozac.de) baerlauch.net (Franz & Gisela Schmidt) “Wildman” Steve Brill: Ramps Voluspa: The Song of the Sybil (www.geocities.com) Völuspá: The prediction of the prophetess (www.nordic-life.org) Wöluspa: Der Seherin Ausspruch (www.maerchen.net)