floral

Forms

floral (feminine florale, masculine plural floraux, feminine plural florales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin flōrālis (“relating to flowers”), from flōs (“flower”), the source of fleur.^[2][3][4][1] The Petit Robert connects the Latin adjective with the goddess's name Flōra.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as a term of Roman antiquity, in solennitez floralles, the festivals of Flora, in Michel de Tours's translation of Suetonius (1520).^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In literary history jeux floraux (Du Bellay, 1549) is the name of the Toulouse poetry contest, held since the 14th century, whose winners received flowers of gold or silver.^[3][2][4] Bloch and Wartburg date Du Bellay's Aux jeux floraux de Toulouse to 1550 and link the contest with the Consistori del Gai Saber founded in 1323.^[4]

The adjective was taken up in botany before 1778, in Rousseau's fragments of a botanical dictionary, for what belongs to the flower;^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg date the botanical use to 1749.^[2][3][4] Art floral is recorded in 1905.^[3] The TLFi also has a second floral meaning “of the flora”, as in domaine floral.^[2]

Timeline

• 1520 – Michel de Tours writes solennitez floralles of the Roman festivals of Flora.^[2]
• 1546 – The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date the adjective to this year.^[7][5]
• 1549 – Du Bellay names the Jeux Floraux of Toulouse.^[2][3]
• 1749 – Bloch and Wartburg date the botanical sense.^[4]
• before 1778 – Rousseau uses it in botany.^[2][3]
• 1905 – Art floral is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of or decorated with flowers: une composition florale, art floral, parc floral.^[5][3]
2. (botany) Belonging to or relating to the flower: les organes floraux, enveloppe florale.^[5][8]
3. Jeux floraux: the literary contest of Toulouse, held since the 14th century, whose winners receive a gold or silver flower; also the games held in honour of Flora in ancient Rome.^[5][8]
4. (botany) Relating to the flora of a region: domaine floral.^[2]

Related words

• fleur
• flore
• floralies
• Latin flōrālis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette