# How was this village name created?



## larshgf

I have tried to figure out some of the names of the villages on Samos Island. I found this information in the description of the village Οι Κοθμαραδαίοι….

"Οι Κουμαραδαίοι βρίσκονται ανατολικά του χωριού Πύργος, σε απόσταση 5 χιλιομέτρων από αυτά, στην Ν.Α. πλαγιά του Καρβούνη μέσα σε μία ρεματιά.. Το όνομά τους το πήραν από τις πολλές κουμαριές που υπήρχαν εκεί."

The Greek Word κουμαριά means strawberry tree = κουμαριές in plural. Does anybody have an eksplanation of how we come from
κουμαριά to Κουμαραδαίοι ?

(source: Κουμαραδαίοι - iSamos.gr)


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## dmtrs

(Just guessing: ) 
The inhabitants of a village that has a connection to _κουμαριές_ could be named _Κουμαράδες_.
-_αίοι _is used sometimes as an alternate word ending for nouns that indicate locality or family or groups of people: _Αθηναίοι _(Athenians), _Τρικκαίοι _(people from Trikala), _Κολοκοτρωναίοι _(those who belong to Kolokotronis' family), _σκουπιδιαραίοι _(instead of _σκουπιδιάρηδες _= garbage men/dustmen), _κουμπαραίοι _(instead of _κουμπάροι _= best men/women), _γυφταίοι_ (instead of _γύφτοι _= gypsies -usually offensive but not always, at least in Western Greece where I live), _νοματαίοι_* and so on.
The word _Κουμαράδες _might have taken the form _Κουμαραδαίοι _and, somehow, became a village name instead of the noun refferring to its inhabitants.

* (νοματαίοι - Βικιλεξικό)


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## larshgf

larshgf said:


> I have tried to figure out some of the names of the villages on Samos Island. I found this information in the description of the village Οι Κοθμαραδαίοι….
> 
> "Οι Κουμαραδαίοι βρίσκονται ανατολικά του χωριού Πύργος, σε απόσταση 5 χιλιομέτρων από αυτά, στην Ν.Α. πλαγιά του Καρβούνη μέσα σε μία ρεματιά.. Το όνομά τους το πήραν από τις πολλές κουμαριές που υπήρχαν εκεί."
> 
> The Greek Word κουμαριά means strawberry tree = κουμαριές in plural. Does anybody have an eksplanation of how we come from
> κουμαριά to Κουμαραδαίοι ?
> 
> (source: Κουμαραδαίοι - iSamos.gr)


Very interesting! Thank you dmtrs.


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## bearded

larshgf said:


> The Greek Word κουμαριά means strawberry tree


 Do strawberries grow on trees? Did you mean strawberry plant..?


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## larshgf

I understand why you are a little confused! But it is correct. Strawberry-tree = Arbutus unedo. I am sure you can find some pictures of this tree by googling. 👍


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## bearded

Oh, I've learned something new - and thank you, larshgf!  My botanic knowledges are very modest, and in Italian the name of that tree _(corbézzolo)_ has nothing to do with strawberries (_fragole: fraoules_).


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## ioanell

larshgf said:


> The Greek Word κουμαριά means strawberry tree



This does not apply, at least in regard to the Greek flora.



larshgf said:


> Strawberry-tree = Arbutus unedo. I am sure you can find some pictures of this tree by googling.



Of course, there are different genuses and species around the world and here the advice of a specialist would be very enlightening and much appreciated, but after a relevant search by googling, motivated by the above absolute statement, it is easy to find out that *Arbutus unedo* is the κουμαριά (judging from the pictures as well) and has nothing to do with the _strawberry plant_, whereas φραουλιά is the *Fragaria × ananassa* or the *garden strawberry *or simply *strawberry *(see Wikipedia’s article or elsewhere)*, *which is worldwide cultivated *as a plant* for its delicious fruits*. *The simple quotation of some features of the two fruits is enough to show they are from different plants, something I guess most of us already know. Probably this misunderstanding came about by Wikipedia’s relevant article naming this Arbutus unedo as *strawberry tree *as it also grows as a small tree*, *but describing it as an evergreen *shrub* as well and adding that “Despite the name, _it is not the source of the common strawberry_, which is obtained from Fragaria × ananassa, an unrelated plant.”



bearded said:


> that tree _(corbézzolo)_ has nothing to do with strawberries (_fragole: fraoules_)



Quite right!


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## διαφορετικός

Hello ioanell,
I find your post rather confusing. At first, you tell us that κουμαριά is *not* the strawberry tree:


ioanell said:


> "The Greek Word κουμαριά means strawberry tree"
> This does not apply, at least in regard to the Greek flora.


Then you tell us that κουμαριά is Arbutus unedo and that Arbutus unedo is the strawberry tree:


ioanell said:


> ... it is easy to find out that *Arbutus unedo* is the κουμαριά
> ... Wikipedia’s relevant article naming this Arbutus unedo as *strawberry tree *


So why did you claim at first that κουμαριά is not the strawberry tree?
In German, by the way, it is "Erdbeerbaum", which is literally "strawberry tree" as well.


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## ioanell

Hello, διαφορετικέ. I ‘ll try to make myself “more clear”. If you noticed, larshgf stated that the Greek Word κουμαριά means strawberry-tree. So, when I say “This does not apply, at least in regard to the Greek flora.”, I mean that, in Greek, κουμαριά does not equal to a term “strawberry-tree”, as in Greek we don’t make a connection between κουμαριά and φραουλιά. It may "Arbutus unedo" be rendered in English (or in another language) as “strawberry-tree”, but the same rendition does not exist in reference with the Greek flora as it has nothing to do either with the wild, grown in the nature, or the garden strawberries. 
Then, after relevant searching on the internet, I found that Arbutus unedo in Greek is only rendered as κουμαριά, with no connection with "strawberry-whatsoever", and I ‘m stating it just to differentiate Arbutus unedo from the strawberry plant, if you noticed that.
Finally, to the bearded’s questions “Do strawberries grow on trees? Did you mean strawberry plant…?” larshgf replied -and this was in fact the reason for my “intervention”- “_I understand why you are a little confused! But it is correct. Strawberry-tree=Arbutus unedo_”, this “_But it is correct” _reply, just immediately after bearded’s questions, meaning to me -and to bearded, I suppose, judging from his reply- that strawberries do really grow on trees and not on plants.

I didn’t mean to confuse anybody, but just to contradistinguish between φράουλες and κούμαρα, between φραουλιές and κουμαριές, at least in the Greek language and in the Greek flora.

I hope this clarified my previous post.


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## bearded

ioanell said:


> meaning ….. to bearded, I suppose, judging from his reply- that strawberries do really grow on trees and not on plants.


Not really: in fact I know very well that strawberries do not grow on trees  . What I understood from larshgf's reply (and from images on the internet) was that the English compound noun ''strawberry tree'' has nothing to do with strawberries, but indicates a tree we call _corbezzolo _and Greeks call  κουμαριά.  So my initial confusion was due to a literal translation of ''strawberry tree'' as 'tree of the strawberries': the strangeness lies in the English language.

( Should anyone be interested: the substantive _corbezzolo _is stressed on the e )


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## velisarius

The common name for the_ koumaria _bush in English  (in  some parts of Greece it apparently grows to the dimensions of a small tree) is "strawberry tree".  Only avid gardeners or botanists would insist on using the Latin name _Arbutus unedo_.

A native speaker of English would probably be aware of the fact that strawberries don't grow on trees. 

I don't know how well known the strawberry tree is in the UK and USA. It might puzzle some if they only know of the botanical (Latin) name. I'd never heard of either name until I came to Greece and saw them growing wild - I asked for the name in Greek and then consulted my gardening books.


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## διαφορετικός

ioanell said:


> I hope this clarified my previous post.


Thank you, ioanell, it is clear now.

The fruits of the strawberry tree often look similar to strawberries and can be sweet (but they are not strawberries). I suppose that this is the reason for the name of the "strawberry tree". Before I saw the strawberry tree in Italy and Greece, I did not know it (nor its names).


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