Spread of Flower Symbolism: From the Victorian Language of Flowers to Modern Flower Emoji

Abstract

The tradition of associating flowers with sentiments is ancient and universal, and the types of sentiments that flowers symbolize are similar from region to region. Individual flower associations, however, are not universal; there is not one lexicon of agreed upon meanings even within a single culture. In the past, symbolic flowers and their lexicons have been tied to the geography and customs of a region as well as to a deep connection with the plant kingdom. As humans lose this deep connection with nature and as the Internet replaces regional geography, flower associations are changing; they are losing their connection with the plant kingdom while retaining some of the geographic and seasonal associations of the past. This study looks at the origins of symbolic flower languages; how through a cross-cultural migration of ideas and lore from Chinese, Middle Eastern and ancient Greek and Roman cultures, the idea of a language of flowers or floriography spread to France, England, and North America; how the genre of language of flower books evolved; and how the flowers derived their meanings. It considers recent trends in flower symbolism, continued use of the Victorian language of flowers, and emergence of symbolic flower emoji on electronic devices.

Artist and author of “Flowers, The Angels’ Alphabet: The Language and Poetry of Flowers,” mail@literarycalligraphy.com