From Latin flōris + English -o- + -graphy (suffix indicating something represented in the specified manner). Flōris is the genitive singular of flōs (“blossom, flower”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”).
Floriography roughly translates to “the language of flowers” and has been used as a means of cryptological communication by simply giving meaning to the colours and varieties of flowers, and the way flowers are arranged.
To say that their unique language is fascinating and deeply romantic is an understatement. Floriography has the innate ability to embody the most captivating of human emotions and leave nothing but warmth in its wake.
An English aristocrat, poet, and writer, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is remembered today for more than just her impact on floriography in the Victorian era. The wife to Sir Edward Wortley Montagu, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the Georgian period, Lady Montagu wrote extensively about her life and travels to the Ottoman empire. These letters have been widely published and can be easily read today. During these visits, she encountered the court of Constantinople and its obsession with tulips. Her letters told of how flowers were used as a coded language to express love, devotion, rejection, and even hatred. A language that gripped the Victorian era 100 years later.
It is believed that the first actual published book upon this language was by Frenchwoman Louise Cortambert under the pseudonym Madame Charlotte De la Tour in 1819. From this, British flower dictionaries exploded. Spreading faster than pollen in hayfever season, flower language fascinated western society, and in particular the domestic spheres of women.
SOURCES:
- Wikipedia
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Floriography roughly translates to “the language of flowers” and has been used as a means of cryptological communication by simply giving meaning to the colours and varieties of flowers, and the way flowers are arranged.
To say that their unique language is fascinating and deeply romantic is an understatement. Floriography has the innate ability to embody the most captivating of human emotions and leave nothing but warmth in its wake.
Origins of Floriography and Victorian Flower Symbols
Floriography was a seismic cultural and sociological shift in the Victorian era. Whilst floriography had a major impact upon Victorian society, it first originated during the Georgian period. Historians attribute this to one women: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1682-1762).An English aristocrat, poet, and writer, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is remembered today for more than just her impact on floriography in the Victorian era. The wife to Sir Edward Wortley Montagu, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the Georgian period, Lady Montagu wrote extensively about her life and travels to the Ottoman empire. These letters have been widely published and can be easily read today. During these visits, she encountered the court of Constantinople and its obsession with tulips. Her letters told of how flowers were used as a coded language to express love, devotion, rejection, and even hatred. A language that gripped the Victorian era 100 years later.
It is believed that the first actual published book upon this language was by Frenchwoman Louise Cortambert under the pseudonym Madame Charlotte De la Tour in 1819. From this, British flower dictionaries exploded. Spreading faster than pollen in hayfever season, flower language fascinated western society, and in particular the domestic spheres of women.
SOURCES:
- Wikipedia
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