The word 'service', meaning both a kind of tree and the fruit it bears, derives from the classical Latin word sorbus, sometime spelt sorvus, that was used in this context by the ancient Romans, primarily for the True Service, Sorbus domestica. This tree grew, and still does, throughout much of the Roman Empire and the fruit has always been used as food. Another tree, Sorbus torminalis, also found in much of the former Roman Empire, had fruits that looked and tasted like those of the True Service, although they were smaller.