"Origins of words" by Susie Dent, Countdown 27/02/18 (flower names: anemone, hyacinth, cowslip, foxglove, iris, marigold-calendula, pansy)

I'm going round some flowers today and it was prompted by Charlotte Littlefair from Newcastle upon Tyne. She says she's a keen gardener and she says, "Please, could you shed some lights on the origin of common flower nemes? I once stumbled across the French for dandelion, "pissenlit" and was reminded of the old wives' tale that they make people wet the bed". And it's true, they are diuretics. She says, "Dandelion sounds like "dans le lit", in the bed. Is there a connection?" Um, sadly, not. It comes from "dent de lion", a lion's tooth,because the leaves of the dandeloin a shaped a little bit like a lion's tooth - at least that's what they thought in the Middle Ages. Um, flowers themselves, an antology was originally a bouquet of flowers. I'm going to give you a little bit of anthology of names of flowers, very quickly. Adonis was a Greek youth who was so handsome that even Aphrodite, who was the goddes of love, fell madly in love with him. And he was kiled in a boar hunt. She was so stricken with grief that the gods of the lower world allowed him to come up and share part of the year, each year with her. And from his blood, from Adonis' blood, sprang an anemone which is Greek for wind, which is a very beautiful story. I think I told before the story of Hayacinthus, who was loved by Apollo but killed accidentally by a discus, and from his blood Apollo caused a hyacinth to spring each yaer. So, two beautiful myths that lie buhind two flower names. The other extreme, the cowslip, Old English this time, very unromantic. It means cow slime or dung because the cowslip grows especially well in pastures. Apologies for that one. The foxglove is quite nice one, used for heart disease. But the blossomes look a little like the empty fingers of a glove, and the "fox" might be a refference to folk, fairy folk, because it was believed that these were the gloves of fairies, which is quite sweet. Iris - named after the Greek goddes of the rainbow. Marigold - named after Virgin Mary and the colour gold. And the botanical name of marygold, I should just say, is calendula. That comes from the Roman kalends, the first of the month. So named because like a little calendar, they bloom each month, which is quite pretty. And, finally, pansy, which Charlotte also mentioned in her e-mail, which is very pretty. A poetic mind once fancied that the dainty flowers had a thoughtful, pensive face. It gies back to the French pensee, meaning thought. And Ophelia, of course, famously said, that. She said, "Rosemary for rememberance, pancies for thought". So, beautiful, beautiful stories lies behind so many things in our garden. There are hundreds and hundreds more, but I hope I've satisfied some of Charlotte questions.