Language of Flowers - History

History

The notion of plants having meanings is traditional, as seen for example in the play Hamlet, (circa 1600), Act 4, Scene V, in the passage beginning "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, ...". The 19th century interest in a language of flowers began in 17th century Ottoman Turkey, specifically the court in Constantinople, connected with the tulips from the Netherlands (see tulip mania). This was then introduced to Europe by two people, Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762, English), who introduced it to England in 1717, and Aubry de La Mottraye (1674–1743), who introduced it to the Swedish court in 1727. This was then eventually popularized in various European countries – in France, it was popular about 1810–1850, via such books as Le Langage des Fleurs ("The Language of Flowers", 1819, Charlotte de Latour), while in Britain it was popular during the Victorian age (roughly 1820–1880), in the US about 1830–1850, and spread worldwide.

Read more about this topic:  Language Of Flowers

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.
    Camille Paglia (b. 1947)

    Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.
    Mao Zedong (1893–1976)

    He wrote in prison, not a History of the World, like Raleigh, but an American book which I think will live longer than that. I do not know of such words, uttered under such circumstances, and so copiously withal, in Roman or English or any history.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)