March 16th, 2017

The Language of Flowers

lan·guage of flow·ers
noun
a set of symbolic meanings attached to different flowers when they are given or arranged.

-The language of flowers has been around for centuries.

• Writings of ancient Greeks, romans, Egyptians and Chinese all included flower and plant symbolism.
• In 1714 The Language of Flowers was introduced to Europe by King Charles II of Sweden after five years of exile in Turkey.
• In 1718 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu became fascinated with the concept.
  • Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Seigneur Aubry de la Mottraye, two Europeans who visited Turkey during the early 1700s, are often cited by scholars as having introduced the idea of a language of flowers to Europe with their descriptions of the Turkish “sélam'. These descriptions were written in a series of letters from Lady Mary, which became very popular after being published in 1763. “Sélam” was described as a way for a girl in a harem to communicate in secret with her lover on the outside. A group of objects would be wrapped in a handkerchief and sent from the woman to her lover and vice versa. It was not so important what the specific items were, but the messages were supposedly derived from words that rhymed with the names of the objects. (Seaton 62)
• Became very popular in the 1800’s during Queen Victoria’s Reign.
• The first published phrase of “The Language of Flowers” occurred in 1809.
• Flowers symbolized a person’s feelings for another without words during a modest time period.
• An import of new and exotic flowers increased dramatically during the Victorian Era. Around 9,000 plants entered Europe during this time. For the British, this was an immense source of pride, as it was seen as “tangible proof of Britain's expanding influence and wealth, and the glory of the monarch”(Scourse1)
• During the eighteenth century there was an increase in interest in the subject of botany. Great explorers were discovering new plants all over the world and taxonomists began to further classify plants and name them. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist. He created the formal system of naming plants called binomial nomenclature. He is known as the “father of modern taxonomy”. Much of his writings are in Latin hence the Latin or botanical names of plants today.
• The world of medicine benefited from the influx of plants. In America, Britain and France medicinal advances and the connection with botany increased the interest in flowers.

 
  
Works Cited:
Seaton, Beverly. The Language of Flowers: A History. Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 1995.
Scourse, Nicolette. The Victorians and their flowers. London : Croom Helm ; Portland, Or. : Timber Press, c1983.
 Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae :secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin) (10th ed.). Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius.