The fascinating origins of 11 beautiful flower names

By Kelly Clarkson

11种美丽鲜花名字的起源,大多你都不知道吧。

Here are the origins behind the names of 11 of the loveliest flowers.

以下是11种美丽鲜花名字的起源。

1.PEONY牡丹

The peony,a word found in Old English,was believed to have healing properties in early medicine,which is why its name might honor Paion,the physician of the gods in Greek mythology.

牡丹的英文名peony起源于古英语，在早期医学中，人们认为牡丹具有疗伤功效，因此，可能根据希腊神话中众神的医生Paion，将其命名为peony。

2.RHODODENDRON杜鹃

Like many other flower names,rhododendron enters the English record in the mid-1500s.The name literally means “rose tree” in Greek(rhodon means and is related to the word “rose”).It’s an apt name,for this shrub or small tree blooms with brilliant,rose-colored flowers.

和其他众多鲜花名一样，rhododendron（杜鹃）是16世纪中叶传入英语中的。rhododendron在希腊语中的意思是“玫瑰树”（rhodon意思和玫瑰相关）。这个名字非常贴切，因为这种像小树一样的灌木植物能开出鲜艳的玫瑰色花朵。

3.AMARYLLIS朱顶红

In the pastoral poems of Theocritus,Ovid，and Virgil,Amaryllis was a common name for a beautiful country girl.Carl Linnaeus,the father of modern taxonomy,adopted Amaryllis for this flower family in the late 1700s.The name Amaryllis may derive from a Greek verb meaning to “sparkle” or “shine”,fitting for the rich red veins that pop out from the long white petals of these flowers.

在忒俄克里托斯、奥维德和维吉尔的田园诗歌中，Amaryllis是美丽乡村女孩的常见名字。18世纪晚期，现代分类学之父卡尔·林奈为这种花取名Amaryllis。Amaryllis这个名字可能源于一个希腊动词，意为“闪耀”或“发光”，与这些长长的白色花瓣中绽放出的丰润的红色纹理的花很相配。

4.CARNATION康乃馨

There are two etymologies for carnation,a term found in English in the early 1500s.According to one,carnation may be a corruption of coronation,perhaps because the flower’s toothed petals resembled crowns or because the flowers were worn,crown-like,as garlands.The second etymology comes from the flower’s original color,and roots carnation in the Middle French carnation, “pink complexion,” from the Latin root caro, “flesh,” source of less delicate words like carnal and carnage.

康乃馨在16世纪初期出现在英语中，关于carnation的词源有两种说法。其中一种说法认为，carnation可能是coronation（加冕礼）的变体，可能是因为康乃馨的锯齿状花瓣好像皇冠，又或者是因为人们把这种像皇冠的花当花环佩戴。第二种说法与康乃馨的原色有关，认为carnation这个名字来自中古法语carnation（粉红的气色），这个单词的拉丁语词根是caro（肉欲），与carnal（肉欲的）、carnage（大屠杀）等不太好听的单词词根相同。

5.DAISY雏菊

The word daisy has deep roots in the English language.As attested to in some of English’s earliest records,daisy comes from the Old English phrase dgesege:the“day’s eye”,as the flower’s white petals close at dusk and open at dawn,like the eye of the day as it sleeps and wakes.

Daisy这个词在英语中有着很深的渊源。根据一些英语相关的早期记载，daisy来自于古英语短语dgesege，意思是“日之眼”。白色的雏菊黎明花开，黄昏花谢，就像我们的眼睛一样每天睡去醒来。

6.FORGET-ME-NOT勿忘我

The name forget-me-not was a direct translation from the Old French “ne m’oubliez mye” (“do not forget me”).Renaissance romantics believed that,if they wore these soft-colored flowers,they would never be forgotten by their lovers,making the flower a symbol of fidelity and everlasting love.Other languages also translated “ne m’oubliez mye”:For this flower,German has Vergissmeinnicht,Swedish has forgatmigej,and Czech has nezabudka.

“勿忘我”这个名字是来自古老的法语“不要忘记我”的直接翻译。文艺复兴时期的浪漫主义者认为，如果他们戴着这些柔和的花朵，他们永远不会被他们的情人遗忘，这使花成为忠诚和永恒爱情的象征。其他语言也被翻译成“不要忘记我”，德语是 Vergissmeinnicht，瑞典语是 forgatmigej，捷克语是nezabudka。”

7.LUPINES鲁冰花

The tall,tapering blue clusters of lupines certainly don’t look like their etymology:lupinus,a Latin adjective for “wolf”.So why the fierce name?Perhaps the flowers were once thought to deplete the ground in which they grow,devouring its nutrients like a wolf.This is likely folk etymology,though,as lupines actually enrich the soil and have long been harvested for their nutritious seeds.

鲁冰花的词源lupinus是拉丁语中“狼”的形容词，这种高高的、锥形的蓝色花束和其词源并不相像。那为何是一个如此凶悍的名字呢？也许这些花曾经被认为会耗尽它们生长的土地，像狼一样吞噬它们的营养。不过，这可能是民间的词源，因为鲁冰花实际上能够让土壤肥沃，而且长期以来它们的营养丰富的种子都能丰收。

8.VIOLET紫罗兰

Before we had the color violet,recorded by the late 1300s,we had the flower violet,emerging some decades earlier in the same century.Violet grows out of the French violete or violette,a diminutive of viole,in turn the Latin viola,its name for this distinctively purple flower.This viola has no etymological relationship to the instrument.Some scholars suspect Latin got viola from the Greek name for the plant,ion.

紫色（violet）这个单词在14世纪末期才有记载，而在此之前几十年，violet就指代紫罗兰鲜花。violet来自于法语中的 violete或violette，它们是viole的指小词缀，而viole来自于拉丁语单词viola，也就是拉丁语中对这种独特的紫色花朵的称呼。拉丁文viola和提琴这种乐器毫无关系。一些学者认为，viola来自于希腊语中对紫罗兰这种植物的称呼ion。

9.ORCHID兰花

Orchids are a diverse family of extremely elegant flowers,but the literal meaning of their name,documented in English in the early 1840s,is a bit earthier,shall we say.Orchid comes from the Greek orkhis,meaning “testicle.”The flower’s bulbous roots,often paired,have long been thought to resemble those male organs.

兰科植物（orchid）都非常优雅，但是它们的名字直译过来却有点粗俗。据记载，兰花的英文名orchid出现在19世纪40年代，这还是比较早的。orchid来自希腊语orkhis，也就是“睾丸”的意思。由于兰花的球茎根通常是成对的，长期以来，人们一直认为其和男性睾丸相似。

10.ANEMONE银莲花

The anemone is also known as the windflower.Indeed,the word anemone,first attested in English in the mid-1500s,probably comes from a Greek word literally meaning “daughter of the wind”.It’s said that the brightly colored petals of this flower only opened when the wind blew.Sea anemones took their names in the late 1700s on their likeness to the flowers.

银莲花也被称为风之花。事实上，anemone是在16世纪中叶首次出现在英语中的，它可能起源于一个希腊单词，意思是“风的女儿”。据说，明媚鲜艳的银莲花只有在风吹过时才会绽放。因为银莲花和海葵有几分相似，到18世纪末期时，人们将海葵 （一种长在水中的食肉动物）称为sea anemone。

11.TULIP郁金香

Passing into English via Dutch or German in the late 1500s， tulip actually comes from the Turkish tülbent,based on the Persian dulband:“turban”.The flower,to its ancient namers,resembled the male head wear worn throughout the Middle East,India,and parts of Africa.The word turban also comes from this Persian dulband.

16世纪晚期，tulip（郁金香）从荷兰语或德语中传入英语，这个单词实际上源自于土耳其语tülbent，它来自于波斯语dulband，指“穆斯林的头巾”。按照郁金香古代名字的意思，这种花好像中东、印度以及非洲部分地区男性的头饰。头巾（turban）这个词也源自波斯语dulband。