By Kelly Clarkson

11種美麗鮮花名字的起源,大多你都不知道吧。

Here are the origins behind the names of 11 of the loveliest flowers.

以下是11種美麗鮮花名字的起源。

1.PEONY牡丹

The peony,a word found in Old English,was believed to have healing properties in early medicine,which is why its name might honor Paion,the physician of the gods in Greek mythology.

牡丹的英文名peony起源于古英語，在早期醫(yī)學中，人們認為牡丹具有療傷功效，因此，可能根據(jù)希臘神話中眾神的醫(yī)生Paion，將其命名為peony。

2.RHODODENDRON杜鵑

Like many other flower names,rhododendron enters the English record in the mid-1500s.The name literally means “rose tree” in Greek(rhodon means and is related to the word “rose”).It’s an apt name,for this shrub or small tree blooms with brilliant,rose-colored flowers.

和其他眾多鮮花名一樣，rhododendron（杜鵑）是16世紀中葉傳入英語中的。rhododendron在希臘語中的意思是“玫瑰樹”（rhodon意思和玫瑰相關）。這個名字非常貼切，因為這種像小樹一樣的灌木植物能開出鮮艷的玫瑰色花朵。

3.AMARYLLIS朱頂紅

In the pastoral poems of Theocritus,Ovid，and Virgil,Amaryllis was a common name for a beautiful country girl.Carl Linnaeus,the father of modern taxonomy,adopted Amaryllis for this flower family in the late 1700s.The name Amaryllis may derive from a Greek verb meaning to “sparkle” or “shine”,fitting for the rich red veins that pop out from the long white petals of these flowers.

在忒俄克里托斯、奧維德和維吉爾的田園詩歌中，Amaryllis是美麗鄉(xiāng)村女孩的常見名字。18世紀晚期，現(xiàn)代分類學之父卡爾·林奈為這種花取名Amaryllis。Amaryllis這個名字可能源于一個希臘動詞，意為“閃耀”或“發(fā)光”，與這些長長的白色花瓣中綻放出的豐潤的紅色紋理的花很相配。

4.CARNATION康乃馨

There are two etymologies for carnation,a term found in English in the early 1500s.According to one,carnation may be a corruption of coronation,perhaps because the flower’s toothed petals resembled crowns or because the flowers were worn,crown-like,as garlands.The second etymology comes from the flower’s original color,and roots carnation in the Middle French carnation, “pink complexion,” from the Latin root caro, “flesh,” source of less delicate words like carnal and carnage.

康乃馨在16世紀初期出現(xiàn)在英語中，關于carnation的詞源有兩種說法。其中一種說法認為，carnation可能是coronation（加冕禮）的變體，可能是因為康乃馨的鋸齒狀花瓣好像皇冠，又或者是因為人們把這種像皇冠的花當花環(huán)佩戴。第二種說法與康乃馨的原色有關，認為carnation這個名字來自中古法語carnation（粉紅的氣色），這個單詞的拉丁語詞根是caro（肉欲），與carnal（肉欲的）、carnage（大屠殺）等不太好聽的單詞詞根相同。

5.DAISY雛菊

The word daisy has deep roots in the English language.As attested to in some of English’s earliest records,daisy comes from the Old English phrase dgesege:the“day’s eye”,as the flower’s white petals close at dusk and open at dawn,like the eye of the day as it sleeps and wakes.

Daisy這個詞在英語中有著很深的淵源。根據(jù)一些英語相關的早期記載，daisy來自于古英語短語dgesege，意思是“日之眼”。白色的雛菊黎明花開，黃昏花謝，就像我們的眼睛一樣每天睡去醒來。

6.FORGET-ME-NOT勿忘我

The name forget-me-not was a direct translation from the Old French “ne m’oubliez mye” (“do not forget me”).Renaissance romantics believed that,if they wore these soft-colored flowers,they would never be forgotten by their lovers,making the flower a symbol of fidelity and everlasting love.Other languages also translated “ne m’oubliez mye”:For this flower,German has Vergissmeinnicht,Swedish has forgatmigej,and Czech has nezabudka.

“勿忘我”這個名字是來自古老的法語“不要忘記我”的直接翻譯。文藝復興時期的浪漫主義者認為，如果他們戴著這些柔和的花朵，他們永遠不會被他們的情人遺忘，這使花成為忠誠和永恒愛情的象征。其他語言也被翻譯成“不要忘記我”，德語是 Vergissmeinnicht，瑞典語是 forgatmigej，捷克語是nezabudka?！?/p>

7.LUPINES魯冰花

The tall,tapering blue clusters of lupines certainly don’t look like their etymology:lupinus,a Latin adjective for “wolf”.So why the fierce name?Perhaps the flowers were once thought to deplete the ground in which they grow,devouring its nutrients like a wolf.This is likely folk etymology,though,as lupines actually enrich the soil and have long been harvested for their nutritious seeds.

魯冰花的詞源lupinus是拉丁語中“狼”的形容詞，這種高高的、錐形的藍色花束和其詞源并不相像。那為何是一個如此兇悍的名字呢？也許這些花曾經(jīng)被認為會耗盡它們生長的土地，像狼一樣吞噬它們的營養(yǎng)。不過，這可能是民間的詞源，因為魯冰花實際上能夠讓土壤肥沃，而且長期以來它們的營養(yǎng)豐富的種子都能豐收。

8.VIOLET紫羅蘭

Before we had the color violet,recorded by the late 1300s,we had the flower violet,emerging some decades earlier in the same century.Violet grows out of the French violete or violette,a diminutive of viole,in turn the Latin viola,its name for this distinctively purple flower.This viola has no etymological relationship to the instrument.Some scholars suspect Latin got viola from the Greek name for the plant,ion.

紫色（violet）這個單詞在14世紀末期才有記載，而在此之前幾十年，violet就指代紫羅蘭鮮花。violet來自于法語中的 violete或violette，它們是viole的指小詞綴，而viole來自于拉丁語單詞viola，也就是拉丁語中對這種獨特的紫色花朵的稱呼。拉丁文viola和提琴這種樂器毫無關系。一些學者認為，viola來自于希臘語中對紫羅蘭這種植物的稱呼ion。

9.ORCHID蘭花

Orchids are a diverse family of extremely elegant flowers,but the literal meaning of their name,documented in English in the early 1840s,is a bit earthier,shall we say.Orchid comes from the Greek orkhis,meaning “testicle.”The flower’s bulbous roots,often paired,have long been thought to resemble those male organs.

蘭科植物（orchid）都非常優(yōu)雅，但是它們的名字直譯過來卻有點粗俗。據(jù)記載，蘭花的英文名orchid出現(xiàn)在19世紀40年代，這還是比較早的。orchid來自希臘語orkhis，也就是“睪丸”的意思。由于蘭花的球莖根通常是成對的，長期以來，人們一直認為其和男性睪丸相似。

10.ANEMONE銀蓮花

The anemone is also known as the windflower.Indeed,the word anemone,first attested in English in the mid-1500s,probably comes from a Greek word literally meaning “daughter of the wind”.It’s said that the brightly colored petals of this flower only opened when the wind blew.Sea anemones took their names in the late 1700s on their likeness to the flowers.

銀蓮花也被稱為風之花。事實上，anemone是在16世紀中葉首次出現(xiàn)在英語中的，它可能起源于一個希臘單詞，意思是“風的女兒”。據(jù)說，明媚鮮艷的銀蓮花只有在風吹過時才會綻放。因為銀蓮花和?？袔追窒嗨?，到18世紀末期時，人們將?？?（一種長在水中的食肉動物）稱為sea anemone。

11.TULIP郁金香

Passing into English via Dutch or German in the late 1500s， tulip actually comes from the Turkish tülbent,based on the Persian dulband:“turban”.The flower,to its ancient namers,resembled the male head wear worn throughout the Middle East,India,and parts of Africa.The word turban also comes from this Persian dulband.

16世紀晚期，tulip（郁金香）從荷蘭語或德語中傳入英語，這個單詞實際上源自于土耳其語tülbent，它來自于波斯語dulband，指“穆斯林的頭巾”。按照郁金香古代名字的意思，這種花好像中東、印度以及非洲部分地區(qū)男性的頭飾。頭巾（turban）這個詞也源自波斯語dulband。