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in reply to a message by Tina Frederick
Arbutus is the genus name of several trees belonging to the heather family. Arbutus unedo (the strawberry tree) is from the Mediterranean region and Arbutus menziesii is a striking red-barked broad-leafed evergreen tree from the central Pacific coast of North America. Was your aunt born in one of these areas? I don't know the derivation of "Arbutus", but one of our latin experts may be able to help.
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According to my dictionary, the word arbutus is straight out of Latin, referring specifically to the strawberry tree.
The North American variety of the arbutus is quite common here in Victoria. There's one just outside my window.
The North American variety of the arbutus is quite common here in Victoria. There's one just outside my window.
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My Latin's pretty rusty, but I'm sure that treees are all (grammatically) feminine, so the -us ending would be correct and not a sign of a male name given to a female aunt.
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