rose

Definition

A shrub of the genus Rosa, with red, pink, white or yellow flowers.

Etymology

From Middle English rose, roose, from Old English rōse, but with its vowel influenced by Old French rose, both from Latin rosa. cognates and more remote and uncertain etymology The Latin is of uncertain origin, but likely via Oscan from Ancient Greek ῥόδον (rhódon, “rose”) (Aeolic ϝρόδον (wródon)), from Old Persian *vr̥dah (“flower”) (compare Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬜𐬀- (var^əδa-), Sogdian [script needed] (ward), Parthian wâr, late Middle Persian [Term?] (gwl /⁠gul⁠/), Persian گل (gol, “rose, flower”), and Middle Iranian borrowings including Old Armenian վարդ (vard, “rose”), Aramaic וַרְדָּא (wardā) / ܘܪܕܐ (wardā), Arabic وَرْدَة (warda), Hebrew וֶרֶד (wéreḏ)), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥dʰos (“sweetbriar”) (compare Old English word (“thornbush”), Latin rubus (“bramble”), Albanian hurdhe (“ivy”)). Possibly ultimately a derivation from a verb for "to grow" only attested in Indo-Iranian (*Hwardʰ-, compare Sanskrit वर्धति (vardhati), with relatives in Avestan).

Example Sentences

• "Iu. 'Tis but thy name that is my Enemy: Thou art thy ſelfe... What's in a name? That which we call a Roſe, By any other word would ſmell as ſweete..."
• "1794, Robert Burns, "A Red, Red Rose:" O my Luve's like a red, red rose That's newly sprung in june..."
• "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."