An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Erdbeere

by Friedrich Kluge

Erdbeere, feminine, ‘strawberry,’ from the equivalent Middle High German ërtbęr, Old High German ërtbęri, neuter; perhaps not really a compound of Erde, but of Old Saxon erda, ‘honey-flower, common balm’; yet Swedish jordbär, tells in favour of a compound of Erde.