Latin… why? Don’t see the use of it? Or on the contrary, it’s a strange creature that intrigues you and you would like to better understand? Now, it’s time to tame the beast!
Let’s start with a real-life case. Gaëlle, who has just arrived in a trendy borough, of Montreal is invited for lunch at her new friend Judith, a Quebec native. Judith asks Gaëlle bring blueberries (called bleuets in french) to make an upside-down cake. Originally from France, Gaëlle runs to almost every florist in a 12 km radius to find a pretty bouquet of bleuets, which she finds at a high price. When she arrives at Judith’s, we can see the surprise and despair on the hostess’s face. No dessert tonight!
This catastrophic situation could have been avoided, if only Gaëlle and Judith had spoken the same language: Latin. Our beautiful Quebec bleuet, (in Latin Vaccinium corymbosum), is what Gaëlle commonly calls a myrtille in France. Gaëlle’s bleuet is an annual with blue flowers that is called here the cornflower or bachelor’s button, in Latin Centaurea cyanus. It’s really not the same plant!
What Is Latin, Exactly?
Latin is a very old language that had its first followers around the 1st century BC. Some would say that it is a dead language, because in fact, few people speak Latin fluently these days. But in the 18th century, when people were more seriously interested in identifying plants, Latin was a very popular and practically international language. It allowed an Italian botanist to communicate with a Dutch plant enthusiast, even though the two could not understand each other in their respective languages. Like all languages, Latin has evolved over the years. It has gone from classical to medieval to humanist and so on. The Latin used today to describe and name plants is very different from the one our grandparents learned in elementary school.
It’s Linnaeus’ Fault
It is partly because of the Swede Carl von Linné (1707-1778) that Latin became the language of plants. It was this naturalist who decided that each plant should be identified in Latin, regardless of its popular “local” names. Thus, he sorted, classified and named more than 6000 plants and sent emissaries to all parts of the globe, including Canada, to discover new plants. Linné is often said to be the father of binomial nomenclature.
Binomi Nomen-What?
Binomial nomenclature: giving two names to a plant to identify it. Two names: a genus and a species. Vaccinium is the genus, corymbosum is the species. The genus is a bit like a family name. In the Bouchard family, there is Judith (redhead), Monique (brown eyes), Clement (with a mustache) and Louis (curly). In the Vaccinium family, there is Vaccinium corymbosum (large fruits), Vaccinium angustifolium (dwarf plant, with small fruits) and Vaccinium uliginosum (which grows at the top of high mountains). Three blueberries, all edible, but very different in their habits, their look and the size of the fruits. Like Judith, Monique, Clement and Louis.
Why is Latin cool?
First, because it is a universal language that allows you to name plants without making a mistake. If you go to the garden center to buy snowballs, you risk ending up with the wrong snowballs, because there are several plants that have the same popular name. But, if you ask for a Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, there is no mistake. They will sell you exactly the plant you have been dreaming of for months. And that, anywhere in the world!
Then, Latin, when one learns to understand it, can provide valuable clues about the particularities of a plant. Grandiflorum, large flowers. Microphyllum, small leaves. Rubrum, red. Nigra, black. Sinensis, from China.
In short, taming the bi-noun of plants is a good start to deepen your knowledge and interest in plants. And, admit it, we always seem more knowledgeable when our sentences end in “aea”, “is” and “um”!
Nomina si nescis, perit cognitio rerum
Knowledge of things perishes through ignorance of the name.
I compare Latin names to car names, which are also binomial, with genera and species, as well as families. For example, General Motors is a family. Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac are genera of the General Motors family. Electra, Skylark and Riviera are species of the Buick genus. Unfortunately, with all the weird modern hybrids and cultivars, the rules of nomenclature are increasingly ignored. Some names go straight from genus to cultivar, with species names omitted.
Love it, Tony! Can you imagine a GM Buick x Pontiac? Lol!
A great column. One of my favourite examples of this is Monarda, which is also known in English as Bee Balm, Oswego Tea, Horsemint and Bergamot. One small error, however. Latin ìs much older than 1st century BC. Rome was founded in 753 BC by the Latin tribe who date back centuries earlier.
Thanks Julie! And for those wanting more, a fairly recent book on the subject is Peter Parker’s “A Little Book of Latin for Gardeners” (Little Brown 2018).