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Rose

3 stages from Greek to English.

Today it means a prickly shrub with fragrant flowers; a pinkish colour

Where does the word "rose" come from? It comes from Greek rhódon, passing through Latin before entering English (1200s).

rhódon→rosa→rose

Greek · ancient

probably from an Iranian source; the island of Rhodes was linked with the flower and put a rose on its coins

Latin · classical

Romans scattered petals at banquets and honoured the dead at the spring Rosalia festival

English · 1200s

"flower; pinkish colour"

borrowed into Old English and reinforced by Old French rose; the 'Wars of the Roses' (1455-87), after the Lancastrian red and Yorkist white roses, is a name popularised centuries later by Walter Scott

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Rose’s story begins in Greek: rhódon meant “rose.” Probably from an Iranian source; the island of Rhodes was linked with the flower and put a rose on its coins. By classical, the word had taken hold in Latin as rosa. Romans scattered petals at banquets and honoured the dead at the spring Rosalia festival. It reached English by 1200s as rose. Borrowed into Old English and reinforced by Old French rose; the 'Wars of the Roses' (1455-87), after the Lancastrian red and Yorkist white roses, is a name popularised centuries later by Walter Scott. Today, rose means a prickly shrub with fragrant flowers; a pinkish colour.