As my birthday is in two days (!), I’m definitely not in the mood to do
anything tough. So here’s some more flowers!
Lilac
Lilac showed up in the late sixteenth century from the French and Spanish lilac. That in turn was taken from the Turkish leylak, because the plant came to Europe through Turkey. Well, that was an easy one.
Lavender
Lavender is much older, having shown up in the fourteenth century from the Anglo French lavender, Old French lavender, and Medieval Latin lavendula, which means lavender. It’s thought to be from the classical Latin lividus, which means bluish or bruised, and is in fact the origin of livid, and that can be traced to the Proto Indo European leue-, to wash. Because even back then people liked washing things with lavender.
Iris
Iris also showed up in the late fourteenth century, as the flower before it meant the iris of the eye. It’s from the classical Latin iris, which means rainbow, from the Greek word with the same meaning, which was one of the gods. For the eye, it was considered to be a rainbow of colors, but I never really thought of the plant as being a rainbow. It is pretty though.
Petunia
This one is fairly recent, having shown up in 1825—probably because it’s an American plant, and so no one had an English word for it before then. It’s from the Latin Petunia, which is from the French petun, an old word for a tobacco plant. Which is now the word for fart. Really. Actually, petunias are related to tobacco plants, less surprising than the fact that Latin actually took the word from French instead of the other way around!
Peony
Finally today, peony comes from the Middle English pyony, which is a mix of the Old English peonie and Old North French pione. Those are from the Late Latin peonia, from the classical Latin paeonia and Greek paionia. That might be from the god Paieon, the physician of the gods, because peonies were used in medicine.
Lilac showed up in the late sixteenth century from the French and Spanish lilac. That in turn was taken from the Turkish leylak, because the plant came to Europe through Turkey. Well, that was an easy one.
Lavender is much older, having shown up in the fourteenth century from the Anglo French lavender, Old French lavender, and Medieval Latin lavendula, which means lavender. It’s thought to be from the classical Latin lividus, which means bluish or bruised, and is in fact the origin of livid, and that can be traced to the Proto Indo European leue-, to wash. Because even back then people liked washing things with lavender.
Iris also showed up in the late fourteenth century, as the flower before it meant the iris of the eye. It’s from the classical Latin iris, which means rainbow, from the Greek word with the same meaning, which was one of the gods. For the eye, it was considered to be a rainbow of colors, but I never really thought of the plant as being a rainbow. It is pretty though.
This one is fairly recent, having shown up in 1825—probably because it’s an American plant, and so no one had an English word for it before then. It’s from the Latin Petunia, which is from the French petun, an old word for a tobacco plant. Which is now the word for fart. Really. Actually, petunias are related to tobacco plants, less surprising than the fact that Latin actually took the word from French instead of the other way around!
Finally today, peony comes from the Middle English pyony, which is a mix of the Old English peonie and Old North French pione. Those are from the Late Latin peonia, from the classical Latin paeonia and Greek paionia. That might be from the god Paieon, the physician of the gods, because peonies were used in medicine.
I’m out for the next week. Expect kitten pictures!!!
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
University of Texas at Arlington
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Dictionary of Medieval Latin
Fordham University
THEOI Greek Mythology
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
University of Texas at Arlington
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Dictionary of Medieval Latin
Fordham University
THEOI Greek Mythology
They all kind of make sense. Except the one where the latin took the French. That's kooky.
ReplyDeleteLavender and livid. I did not see that one coming.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday.