Did Victorians Really Have a Language of Flowers?

of beauty and longevity. By the seventeen hundreds, the concept of salaam, the Turkish language of flowers and objects, found its way to Europe, further establishing the idea of associating flowers with meanings. The eighteenth century religious visionary and Madman poet Christopher Smart wrote, for there is a language of flowers, for there is a sound reasoning upon all flowers, For

elegant phrases are nothing but flowers. Smart's use of the terminology language of flowers is likely the earliest literary record of the informal phrase. By the early eighteen hundreds, the language of flowers was commonly recognized in Europe, and many devotees of the tradition had begun hand copying lists of flowers and their symbolic meanings. Are you a friend on the outs who wants to skip the drama of a face to face then place a lemon verbina plant on

your bestie's front stoop for forgiveness. Or maybe you're a vocabulary challenged suitor who feels some kind of way present. You're someone special with the heliotrope bouquet for infatuation. Practically any emotion or black thereof, from apathy represented by Candy tuft to zeal represented by elderflower can be conveyed with a just right arrangement for the article. This episode is

based on How Stuff Work. Spoke with Susan Loy, an American artist and calligrapher, whose award winning book Flowers the Angels Alphabet is a standard reference for floral dictionaries and the Victorian language of flowers. She said the idea of a symbolic language of flowers made its way to Victorian Europe and North America through a cross cultural migration of ideas and lore from China, Japan, Turkey, Greece, and Rome.

The Victorian language of flowers is primarily a literary tradition that grew out of the genre of sentimental or gift flower books, which had its roots in the literary almanac, an annual publication, often a New Year's gift book that included a calendar. Literary almanacs were particularly popular around Europe and the United States from the eighteen twenties through the

eighteen sixties. The language of flowers books that grew out of the tradition were sort of dictionaries of flowers, including associated meanings or sentiments, illustrations of the flowers, botanical information and lore, poetry about the flowers or those associated sentiments, and perhaps a floral calendar. Some even included a fortune

telling game called a floral oracle. Modernly, lots of juicy stuff has been written about the repressive strictures of a stilted era that led daring lovers and blossoming romantic hopefuls to employ the Victorian language of flowers as a secret, encoded form of communication. Lore has it that a single flower or cryptic bouquet could express hidden desires, forbidden longings

and erotic imaginings. One dare not speak out loud. During a time when etiquette loomed large over the tufted velvet love seat and decorums sucked all the oxygen out of the parlor. What claustrophobic Victorian couple wouldn't opt for a midday meander through the garden of flower dictionaries in hand. But here's the thing, Lloy explained, there is very little evidence that ordinary people in the Victorian era actually used

the language of flowers as a means of communication. This is a myth that has been propagated by the writers and editors of Language of Flowers books. Artists, designers, florists, marketers, and writers are more likely to have used and continue to use floriography. Many of the Language of Flower books in my personal collection state in their introductions that Victorians used the language of flowers in their courtship, but neither historians nor I have found much evidence that they actually did.

One exception is the use of language of flowers in nosegays, which originated in medieval times. During Victorian era, nosegays were called tussy mussies and sometimes included flower symbolism. From the language of Flowers, it turns out there wasn't even a single cohesive language. Alloy's research suggests that somewhere between four hundred and six hundred Language of Flowers books were published

during the Victorian era. As she said, many of the writers and editors copied each other's dictionaries, so there is some agreement regarding flower meanings. Individual flower associations, however, are not universal, and there is not one lexicon of agreed upon meanings even within a single culture. As symbolic flowers and their lexicons are often tied to the geography and customs of a given region, this really only makes sense.

Many of the flowers in the lexicon are wild flowers, others are garden flowers, some are florist flowers, meaning that access to specific blooms is kind of a big deal. However, there are lots of common themes like love, beauty, and friendship. Often the meanings were expressed in personal statements. For example, a sentiment expressed by Virginia Creeper was I cling to you both in sunshine and shade, or listed under peach your qualities like your charms are unequaled. There were lots

of nuances. Ivy was said to symbolize friendship or lasting friendship because of its clinging habit, while periwinkle indicates early and sincere friendship. Snowdrop connotes a friend in need or a friendship inadversity, while zynia represents thoughts of absent friends. Some of the meanings have negative connotations, and the Victorian writers tended to associate these with yellow flowers, such as the daughter for meanness or a yellow rose for jealousy.

Some of the writers included chapters on the special meaning assigned to the arrangement of flowers. For example, subtle signals might have been sent if a particular flower were worn in the hair or in a corsage. Lloyd said, usually the original meaning would be reversed if a flower is

worn upside down. One poet and floriography maven of her day, Katherine H. Waterman Esling, wrote in eighteen thirty nine, the language of flowers has recently attracted so much attention that an acquaintance with it seems to be deemed, if not an essential part of a polite education, at least a graceful and elegant accomplishment. The long lived language of flowers craze was ushered in from eighteenth century Constantinople via Lady Mary Wortley Montague in travel letters that she mailed to

her friends. In Europe. A Montague, a feminist poet who was married to the English ambassador to Turkey, accompanied her husband to his post in seventeen seventeen and became captivated by the customs there. In a letter to her friends back home, she wrote, there is no color, no flower, no weed, no fruit, herb, pebble, or feather that has not a verse belonging to it. And you may quarrel, reproach, or send letters of passion, friendship, or civility, or even

of news without ever inking your fingers, Allois said. Montague's Turkish Embassy letters were published in seventeen sixty three, shortly after her death, and made her famous. The letters described Turkish life, including the salaam, the Turkish language of flowers and objects undemonic system where flowers or objects rhyme used as an aid for memorization. Examples don't translate well well because of the rhyme, but an example in English might

be pair, do not despair. Although Salam is an ammonic system, it became known in Europe as a system of associating flowers with sentiments. Probably the most famous and influential floriography book is by the well known writer and illustrator of children's books, Kate Greenaway, who lived in England from eighteen forty nine to nineteen oh one. Her book The Language of Flowers, first published in eighteen eighty four, has been translated into many languages and continues to be reprinted to

this day. Even if Victorian's thought and spoke about floriography more than they actually put it into practice, it's interesting to think about the movement as a pre digital version of emoji culture, Lois said. Many of the contemporary flower emoji sentiments could be found in a typical Victorian Language

of Flowers dictionary. Like the Victorian Language of Flowers, flower and plant emoji symbolism often relies on a characteristic of the plant for its significance, which is to say that just as sending an emoji of a peach, chili, pepper, or eggplant doesn't literally mean that you're thinking about produce. Victorians were finding ways to express themselves figuratively. In the

eighteen nineties. The Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde famously asked his friends and advocates to wear green carnations, which he hinted would simultaneously signify homosexuality, while meaning nothing at all. When How Stuff Works spoke with Loy back in twenty twenty, they asked her to create a hypothetical bouquet that expresses the language of flowers for our current times, and I

think it's still pretty applicable. She said that she would include balm for cure, coltsfoot for justice, mint for virtue, nistertium for heroism, dogwood for honesty, oak for honor, olive for peace, pimpernel for change, pomp and rose for kindness, stuf our flower for reciprocity, time for courage, and white chrysanthemum for truth. But Lloy said this bouquet represents qualities

that we need more of in our contemporary world. Today's episode is based on the article red Roses Are Yellow, Every Flower has a Secret Meaning on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Carrie Tatreu. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.