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In the meadow grows a little flower
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2021-06-16 at 8:55 PM UTCAnd her name is Erika.
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2021-06-16 at 9:20 PM UTCWe speak English here, sir. Her name is Heather.
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2021-06-16 at 9:27 PM UTC
Originally posted by Meikai We speak English here, sir. Her name is Heather.
Is there a flower called Heather in the English language? Because there is a flower called Erika in German. It's not it's scientific name, but everyone calls it that anyway.
I suppose Violet would be the English equivalent. -
2021-06-16 at 9:52 PM UTC
Originally posted by Sophie Is there a flower called Heather in the English language? Because there is a flower called Erika in German. It's not it's scientific name, but everyone calls it that anyway.
I suppose Violet would be the English equivalent.
Yeah, Erika even refers to the same flowers we'd commonly refer to as heather.
Always found it weird that it's a given name in both languages, but I suppose naming girls after pretty flowers would be cross cultural. -
2021-06-16 at 10:46 PM UTC
Originally posted by Meikai Yeah, Erika even refers to the same flowers we'd commonly refer to as heather.
Really? I never knew.
Originally posted by Meikai Always found it weird that it's a given name in both languages, but I suppose naming girls after pretty flowers would be cross cultural.
My hypothesis is that it's cross cultural because it has it's roots no pun intended in the old religions of the Nordic and Germanic peoples, which The English are a part of and their descendants too whether they like it or not. Something about fertility festivals, and spring and then Christianity came in with Easter, and what does an egg have to do with Christ? It's weird symbology. Why? Because it's coopted symbology the eggs symbolize birth and life and fertility.
You still have fertility festivals in someparts of Germany and Scandinavia although they aren't called that any more. IDK if you have ever seen the thing with the big pole and all the ribbons and the kids walk around the pole in circles covering it with the ribbons?
It's a very, very old custom in some parts of the world. Same story with giving pretty flowers girl names i would postulate. And it has to do with fertility festivals.
A celebration of life in a way, i would argue.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2021-06-17 at 1:10 AM UTC
Originally posted by Sophie Really? I never knew.
My hypothesis is that it's cross cultural because it has it's roots no pun intended in the old religions of the Nordic and Germanic peoples, which The English are a part of and their descendants too whether they like it or not. Something about fertility festivals, and spring and then Christianity came in with Easter, and what does an egg have to do with Christ? It's weird symbology. Why? Because it's coopted symbology the eggs symbolize birth and life and fertility.
You still have fertility festivals in someparts of Germany and Scandinavia although they aren't called that any more. IDK if you have ever seen the thing with the big pole and all the ribbons and the kids walk around the pole in circles covering it with the ribbons?
It's a very, very old custom in some parts of the world. Same story with giving pretty flowers girl names i would postulate. And it has to do with fertility festivals.
A celebration of life in a way, i would argue.
I think it goes beyond that. It's not even remotely exclusive to Germanic traditions after all. C'mon, you're a fellow weeb! Sakura (cherry blossom) is a common Japanese name for girls. There might be some associations with fertility there too, but I suspect it's really as simple as both flowers and women being "delicate and beautiful". And they smell nice. Right? That's a thing. Literally any dumb lovestruck character in a story would say "she's so pretty and delicate and she smells nice" about the object of his affections. It's almost the cliché first crush response, when a boy first tries to articulate how he's starting to feel about girls. And it's a cliché because that's some primal shit. Not hard to imagine how that primal, awkward observation of the fairer sex might connect to the prevalence of flower names.
PS: I doubt people ever went out and named the flowers after pretty girls. I guess it could be a chicken and egg thing, but the flowers surely had words associated with them long before some sappy couple decided to call their daughter Erika. -
2021-06-17 at 1:13 AM UTC
Originally posted by Meikai I think it goes beyond that. It's not even remotely exclusive to Germanic traditions after all. C'mon, you're a fellow weeb! Sakura (cherry blossom) is a common Japanese name for girls. There might be some associations with fertility there too, but I suspect it's really as simple as both flowers and women being "delicate and beautiful". And they smell nice. Right? That's a thing. Literally any dumb lovestruck character in a story would say "she's so pretty and delicate and she smells nice" about the object of his affections. It's almost the cliché first crush response, when a boy first tries to articulate how he's starting to feel about girls. And it's a cliché because that's some primal shit.
PS: I doubt people ever went out and named the flowers after pretty girls. I guess it could be a chicken and egg thing, but the flowers surely had words associated with them long before some sappy couple decided to call their daughter Erika.
Right for a moment i was absorbed in my own cultural heritage. I literally also wanted to say "you call flowers after girls because they are delicate and beautiful and they smell nice" in my previous post but i figured it would make me sound like a lovestruck head in the clouds kind of person like you mentioned so i didn't, lmao. -
2021-06-17 at 1:16 AM UTCWill say it's far more romantic to imagine some ancient girl whose beauty was forever immortalized by having a pretty flower named after her though. 🥺
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2021-06-17 at 1:17 AM UTCOh and with regard to names. I think us in The West used to do the same as the Japanese still do by which i mean give our kids names that have a meaning. Like Sakura, or Yume or Yuki. Cherry blossom, dream and snow for all the non weebs out there. But i figure we forgot their meaning somehow somewhere along the way.
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2021-06-17 at 1:18 AM UTC
Originally posted by Meikai Will say it's far more romantic to imagine some ancient girl whose beauty was forever immortalized by having a pretty flower named after her though. 🥺
You want ancient romance? How about i call you beautiful sister in Ancient Egyptian. Learned it from a song that was preserved on some papyrus or some shit and rendered as good as they could in modern times, lol. It's a love song, and it's actually pretty neat. -
2021-06-17 at 12:25 PM UTC
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2021-06-17 at 12:30 PM UTC
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2021-06-17 at 12:39 PM UTCWhen I was a young lad in the prime of my life I'd run naked through fields of Heather prevalent in the Peak district national park to a soundtrack of Kate Bush songs.
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2021-06-17 at 12:43 PM UTCWow. That sounds magical.
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2021-07-28 at 11:52 AM UTC
Originally posted by Meikai Will say it's far more romantic to imagine some ancient girl whose beauty was forever immortalized by having a pretty flower named after her though. 🥺
Oh i just remembered. Have you seen Non Non Biyori? it's an SoL cute girls doing cute things kind of anime, they recently released a third season called Non Non Biyori Nonstop.
There's a little girl in the anime and her name is Renge. Renge-chan. And she has violet colored hair, and Renge, is a given name for a little purple flower in Japanese as well. I thought that's pretty cool. -
2023-08-07 at 12:12 AM UTCDay 276 and OP is still dead.
