JAPANESE HAD THEIR-OWN LANGUAGE OF FLOWER MEANINGS
Hanakotoba is the Japanese form of the language
of flowers. In this practice plants were given
codes and passwords. Physiological effects and action under the color of the
flowers, put into words the impressions of nature and the presence of thorns
with the height of tall plants, flowers and garlands of flowers through the
various types. Meant to convey emotion and communicate directly to each other
without needing the use of words.
The language of
flowers, sometimes called floriography, is a means of cryptological communication through the use or arrangement of flowers. Meaning
has been attributed to flowers for thousands of years, and some form of
floriography has been practiced in traditional cultures throughout Europe,
Asia, and the Middle East. Plants and flowers are used as symbols in the Hebrew Bible, particularly of love and
lovers in the Song of Songs, as an emblem for the Israelite people and
for the coming Messiah. In Western Culture, William Shakespeare ascribed emblematic meanings to
flowers, especially in Hamlet,
Prince of Denmark.
Interest in floriography
soared in Victorian England and in the United States during the 19th century. Gifts of
blooms, plants, and specific floral arrangements were used to send a coded
message to the recipient, allowing the sender to express feelings which could
not be spoken aloud in Victorian society. Armed with floral dictionaries,
Victorians often exchanged small "talking bouquets," called nosegays
or tussie-mussies, which could be
worn or carried as a fashion accessory.
History
The renewed Victorian era interest in the language of flowers
finds its roots in Ottoman Turkey,
specifically the court in Constantinople and an obsession it held with tulips during the first half of the 18th
century. The Victorian use of flowers as a means of covert communication
bloomed alongside a growing interest in botany.
The floriography craze
was introduced to Europe by two people: Englishwoman Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762), who brought it to England in 1717, and Aubry de La Mottraye
(1674–1743), who introduced it to the Swedish court in 1727. Joseph
Hammer-Purgstall's Dictionnaire
du language des fleurs (1809)
appears to be the first published list associating flowers with symbolic
definitions, while the first dictionary of floriography appears in 1819 when
Louise Cortambert, writing under the pen name 'Madame Charlotte de la Tour,'
wrote Le langage des Fleurs.
Floriography was
popularized in France about 1810–1850, while in Britain it
was popular during the Victorian age (roughly 1820–1880), and in the United Statesabout 1830–1850. La
Tour's book stimulated the publishing industry especially in France, England,
and America, but also in Belgium, Germany, and other European countries as well
as in South America. Publishers
from these countries produced hundreds of editions of language of flowers books
during the 19th century.
British floral
dictionaries include Henry Phillips' Floral
Emblems published in 1825 and
Frederic Shoberl's The
Language of Flowers; With Illustrative Poetry, in 1834. Shoberl was the editor of the
popular annual "Forget Me Not" from 1822 to 1834. Robert Tyas was
another popular British flower writer, publisher, and clergyman, who lived from
1811 to 1879; his book, The
Sentiment of Flowers; or, Language of Flora, first published in 1836 and printed
through the 1840s, was billed as an English version of Charlotte de la Tour's
book. One of the most familiar of the language of flower books is Routledge's
edition illustrated by Kate
Greenaway, The Language of
Flowers. First published in
1884, it continues to be reprinted to this day.
In the United States the
first print appearance of the language of flowers was in the writings of Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, a
French-American naturalist, who wrote on-going features under the title
"The School of Flora," from 1827 through 1828, in the weekly Saturday Evening Post and the monthly Casket; or Flowers of Literature,
Wit, and Sentiment. These
pieces contained the botanic, English, and French names of the plant, a
description of the plant, an explanation of its Latin names, and the flower's
emblematic meaning. However, the first books on floriography were Elizabeth Wirt's Flora's Dictionary and Dorothea
Dix's The Garland of Flora,
both of which were published in 1829 (though Wirt's book had been issued in an
unauthorized edition in 1828).
During its peak in
America, the language of flowers attracted the attention of the most popular
women writers and editors of the day. Sarah
Josepha Hale, longtime editor of the Ladies'
Magazine and co-editor of Godey's Lady's Book, edited
Flora's Interpreter in 1832; it continued in print through the 1860s. Catharine
H. Waterman Esling wrote a long poem titled, "The Language of
Flowers" which first appeared in 1839 in her own language of flowers book, Flora's Lexicon; it continued
in print through the 1860s. Lucy Hooper, an editor, novelist, poet, and
playwright, included several of her flower poems in The Lady's Book of Flowers and
Poetry, first published in
1841. Frances Sargent Osgood, a
poet and friend of Edgar Allan
Poe, first published The
Poetry of Flowers and Flowers of Poetry in
1841, and it continued in print through the 1860s. Osgood also edited a special
gift book, The Floral Offering,
in 1847. Sarah Carter Edgarton
Mayo, author of several flower books, was associate editor of the Universalist
monthly The Ladies' Repository in Boston from 1839 to 1842. Her book, The Flower Vase, was first
published in 1844. She also edited the books Fables
of Flora in 1844 and The Floral Fortune Teller in 1846. C. M. Kirtland is probably Caroline Matilda Kirkland, editor of
theUnion Magazine of Literature and Art from 1847 to 1851 and the Unitarian
weekly Christian Inquirer from 1847 to 1852. First published in
1848, Kirkland's Poetry of
Flowers continued to be in
print at least until 1886. One of the more comprehensive books, its 522 pages
contain an extensive dictionary and numerous flower poems.
