The iris flower got its common name in ancient Greece. However, until it spread throughout the world, in different countries this spectacular plant was called differently - each people chose the name according to their associations.
So the word "iris" appeared and was assigned to a flower in ancient Greece. The beautiful plant was named after the goddess Iris, the messenger of the gods. She descended from heaven to earth along a rainbow to proclaim God's will to people. Therefore, the rainbow became the symbol of the messenger goddess. And iris, as you know, has a huge number of color options - just like a rainbow! There are about 800 types of irises of various shades, it even happens that several different colors are combined on one iris flower, which makes it even more spectacular.
So the word "iris" in ancient Greek began to mean a rainbow and a flower. This idea with a name for a flower belongs to Hippocrates, a Greek physician. Much later, Karl Linnaeus proposed a unified system of scientific names for plants. And in this system for the iris, he retained its ancient name. So it became known to all botanists of the world, and then spread beyond the scientific world and took root in everyday language.
In Russia, this name became known only in the second half of the 19th century, and until now Russians called the iris "iris" (because of the similarity of its leaves with a scythe). The Ukrainians called the iris "cockerel" ("pivnik"), apparently for the similarity of the petals to the feathers in the spreading rooster's tail. Bulgarians, Serbs and Croats to this day call the iris "Perunik" - in honor of the Slavic god Perun the Thunderer - or "gods" ("God's flower"). In addition, the Slavs had many folk variations of the name of the iris: the white-fronted goose, killer whale, scrub, pigtails, carp, flatbread, chikan, bells, chistyak, wolf (or hare, or bear) cucumber, magpie flowers, strawberry.
In Japan, the word "iris" and the word "warrior spirit" are denoted by the same hieroglyph. Therefore, on Boys' Day, the Japanese prepare mascots "May pearls" from iris flowers - it is designed to help boys become brave. After all, the sharp leaves of the flower are so similar to swords.
In the world of painting, a metaphor has taken root that calls the iris "a lily with a sword", a combination of delicate petals with sharp leaves. He became a symbol of the Virgin Mary's sorrow for Christ and often accompanies her in the paintings of Flemish artists.
Another association arises - with a candy called "iris", well known to us from childhood with toffee. Where does this consonance come from? It is believed to be the idea of a French pastry chef named Morne. At the beginning of the 20th century, he worked in St. Petersburg on these milk sweets and noticed that their relief was like iris petals.
