floralis

Forms

Flōrālis (neuter Flōrāle); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin Flōra (“goddess of flowers”) + -ālis.^[1][3][2] The medieval sense “flowering” goes back directly to flōs (“flower”).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Varro,^[3] who quotes a poet for the flāmen Flōrālis, the priest of Flora.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant “of Flora” and “of her festival”:^[1][6] Ovid has the sacrum Flōrāle, Seneca the jests of the Floralia, and Tertullian and Arnobius the lūdī Flōrālēs.^[6][2] Juvenal calls a woman a matron most worthy of the trumpet of the Floralia.^[6] The neuter plural Flōrālia was the festival itself:^[6][2] Pliny the Elder records that it was instituted on the fourth day before the Kalends of May, in the 513th year of the city, at the bidding of the Sibylline books, “so that everything might blossom well”.^[6] Justin uses it of a flower festival of the people of Massilia.^[2] Varro also has flōrālia for flower gardens.^[7][5]

The glossaries render it with Greek ἄνθιμος, “flowery”, and gloss flōrālis ager as the best land.^[8] In Medieval Latin it meant “flowering, blooming”, and the neuter plural flower beds or gardens: John of Salisbury complains that beehives are shut out of the flower gardens.^[4][9] A charter of Arnulf I of Flanders uses flōrālia prātī of meadows,^[9] and Adelard of Bath has it figuratively, “flowerlike”.^[4] English floral came from it in the 1640s through French, first meaning “of Flora”; the sense “of flowers” follows in 1753.^[10]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro quotes the flāmen Flōrālis and has the Floralia.^[2][5][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid writes of the sacrum Flōrāle.^[6][2][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder dates the founding of the Floralia.^[6][3]
• c. 1160 – John of Salisbury uses the neuter plural of flower gardens.^[4][9][3]
• 1640s – English borrows floral through French.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to Flora;^[1][6] flāmen Flōrālis: the flamen of Flora.^[6][5]
2. Of the festival of Flora;^[1][6][2] lūdī Flōrālēs: the games of Flora.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Flowering, blooming;^[4] (figuratively) flowerlike.^[4]

Noun

1. Flōrālia (neuter plural): the Floralia, the festival of Flora.^[6][2][7]
2. flōrālia (neuter plural): flower gardens, flower beds.^[7][5][4]

Word family

• Flōrālia
• Flōrālicius

Related words

• flōs
• English floral

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com