Jugapuu (Jugapuu)

Common or European yew, Taxus baccata. The word ‘yew’ in English comes from PIE *ei-wo- via proto-Germanic *iwa- or *iwo, which also gave Anglo-Saxon îw, French if, Welsh ywen, German Eibe, Latvian īve, but maybe not American Eew. Another hint as to parentage is PIE *ei- suggesting something multicolored or reddish (reflected in the yew’s red-brown wood), although it could also mean yellowish or motley (perhaps in the sense of being more visibly noticeable or outstanding), colors perhaps played less of a specifically identifying role then than now. A literal translation of the Estonian name would be ‘waterfall tree’, but since it doesn’t seem to need or tend to grow by waterfalls (Joa), the juga may well come from a historical word, retained in Pärnu dialect, jugaline, meaning something with dark stripes or streaks, which would match the vertically-striped appearance of the yew tree bark. The Latvian connection is interesting too: although it’s possible that both Latvian and Estonian may have lifted it from German, Latvian could also have inherited it from a Proto-Baltic language (early Lithuanian?), and Estonian acquired it from one or the other as a loan. Being Europe’s longest-living tree, 2000 years or more, and probably due to its extremely poisonous (mainly taxane, now used in chemotherapy) seeds in its ‘berries’ or arils, the yew tree is often associated with dark forces, gothic novels, cemeteries and so on, even Voldemort’s wand is made of yew. Said, too, to be Estonia’s most beautiful tree. Tree/shrub group, see Kikkapuu.