Gilliflower: Difference between revisions
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According to [[American Heritage Dictionary]]: |
According to [[American Heritage Dictionary]]: |
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A '''gilliflower''' is: |
A '''gilliflower''' is: |
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*The [[carnation]] or a similar plant of the genus Dianthus. |
*The [[carnation]] or a similar plant of the genus [[Dianthus]]. |
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*Any of several plants, such as the wallflower, that have fragrant flowers. |
*Any of several plants, such as the wallflower, that have fragrant flowers. |
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Its name came via French ''giroflée'' from Greek ''karyophyllon'' = "[[Nut (fruit)|nut]]-leaf" = the [[spice]] called [[clove]]. Some say that "gillyflower" originally referred to scented plants that were used in Europe as a cheap substitute for the spice called clove. |
Its name came via French ''giroflée'' from Greek ''karyophyllon'' = "[[Nut (fruit)|nut]]-leaf" = the [[spice]] called [[clove]]. Some say that "gillyflower" originally referred to scented plants that were used in Europe as a cheap substitute for the spice called clove. |
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Revision as of 00:20, 18 April 2010
 | This article appears to be a dictionary definition. (March 2010) |
According to American Heritage Dictionary: A gilliflower is:
- The carnation or a similar plant of the genus Dianthus.
- Any of several plants, such as the wallflower, that have fragrant flowers.
Its name came via French giroflée from Greek karyophyllon = "nut-leaf" = the spice called clove. Some say that "gillyflower" originally referred to scented plants that were used in Europe as a cheap substitute for the spice called clove.
An archaic recipe for gilliflower wine is mentioned in the Cornish Recipes Ancient & Modern dated to 1753:
To 3 gallons water put 6lbs of the best powder sugar; boil together for the space of 1/2 an hour; keep skimming; let it stand to cool. Beet up 3 ounces of syrup of betony, with a large spoonful of ale yeast, put into liquor & brew it well; put a peck of gilliflowers free of stalks; let work fore 3 days covered with a cloth; strain & cask for 3-4 weeks, then bottle.[1]
Gilliflowers are mentioned by Mrs. Lovett in the song "Wait" from the Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd and in the novel La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret (aka Abbe Mouret's Transgression or the Sin of the Father Mouret) by Émile Zola as part of the Les Rougon-Macquart series. Charles Ryder has them growing under his window when he is a student at Oxford in the novel Brideshead Revisited.
References
- dated 1753
- from St. Stephens W.I. in Cornish Recipes, Ancient & Modern, 22nd Edition, The Cornwall Federation of Women's Institutes 1965.
- First collected & published by Edith Martin, Tregavethan, Truro, 1929, for The Cornwall F.of W. I.
External links
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