Every flower has a history and every flower symbolizes something. Often the history and symbols are confusing and contradictory but they are still fascinating. If your birthday is in the month of September, your flower is the aster. Here is the story and language of your flower.The Latin name for the aster is Aster, which literally means star. The association with stars, clearly references the flower’s shape. While we no longer use the word aster to refer to stars, we still use words that use the root aster in words with related meanings. The word asterisk literally means ‘little star,’ while the word disaster refers to something that occurred under a bad omen or something that was ‘ill-starred.’
The colloquial names for the aster are starwort and Michaelmas daisy. (From Suite101 by Melissa Howard)
(Blue aster by zizzy via flickr)
7 comments:
thats interesting!
Hey Susan
Just back to say Happy Birthday again.. you could make it a Birthday week... I hope it was good??? I've been off radar again with lousy internet...
Take care and wish upon an 'aster'... xxx Julie
that first pic is so cute.. and good censorship!!
I never realized that asters were so beautiful. Thanks for the interesting word origins...I need to add a book of word origins to my library. Thanks.
Catherine
Forgot to ask...Is that adorable child you?
C.
Simon--yes, isn't it? I love this sort of thing.
Julie--no, sorry to report, not good.
Catherine--As I said to Simon, this is the sort of thing I love. Most writers, poets (& others, goodness knows) are suckers for reference books of all sorts. Love'em. And yes, that would be me. Don't remember when, which house. But we did have asters always.
Thanks for this! I love learning about flowers. For instance did you know that ranoncula means "small frog" in Latin?
Mary-Laure--You have so many lovely flower photographs on AUREA. I only learned recently, I think, that ranunculus means 'little frog.' I think either on AUREA or on a Swedish blog (written in English). I just love them & only a few this year in the house. It's so cute, that word, isn't it?
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