Nomen est omen

For once, the title is definitely betraying me here: the name is a sign. My name has always been something people get confused over:

Is it Nesrine or is it Nisrine? What's your name's origin? What does it mean? You sure it's not derived from the French name Nestorine?

Some people will mix in extra vowels because they feel the name is a bit hard to pronounce. I don't mind either way since caring about people mispronouncing your name is a sign of vanity (am I signaling virtue here?). What people at least cannot misunderstand is the meaning of my name: wild rose. This flower is botanically known as the species rose and there are over one hundred varieties of them worldwide. In Belgium, the native wild rose is the rosa canina or the dog rose as it has thorns shaped like fangs. All roses have thorns and wild roses are no exception. Yet, theirs are seemingly a bit more vicious I've noticed. They're small and harder to evade when dealing with these flowers. With me at first thinking the flower got its name from perhaps being a bush dogs peed on, I honestly struggled a bit with it being the meaning of my name. Luckily I'm older and a bit wiser now - or I would at least like to think so - and I enjoy the symbolism behind my name a lot more.

Elizabeth I flanked by Tudor Roses and Eglantine (1588, courtesy of Hoocher)

In Elizabethan times, wild roses were known as eglantine, from French. The word finds its roots in Latin: aculeus meaning "spiny" or "prickly." In floriography it has quite the symbolic meaning: "I wound to heal." Queen Elizabeth I had roses as part of her iconography, which included the Tudor roses on her right and eglantines on her left. The latter was to emphasize how the motto of the eglantine can be rather Machiavellian since the English fleet defeated the Spanish Armada. With Shakespeare's troupe, the High Chamberlain's Men, working directly for Queen Elizabeth I, he had to include some appreciative admirations in his work. The Bard seemingly put the queen in three places at once in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She was Titania, Hippolyta the warrior queen of the Amazons and Hermia, the rebellious daughter who protests against her father's wishes. However, it's Titania I'm more interested in. In the first scene of its second act, Oberon describes Titania's bower.

Flowers from Shakespeare's garden by Walter Crane (1909, courtesy of ART & ARTISTS)

Flowers from Shakespeare's garden by Walter Crane (1909, courtesy of ART & ARTISTS)

Flowers from Shakespeare's garden by Walter Crane (1909, courtesy of ART & ARTISTS)

Emily Brontë wrote a poem named Love and Friendship in which she compares love to the wild rose-briar and friendship to the holly-tree. She introduces this concept in the poem's first stanza and by choosing a tree she already shows her bias: friendship is sturdier with it being portrayed by a tree instead of a bush. In the second stanza she warns the reader of the wild rose not being there when times get tough. She continues in the third stanza how that's when the holly-tree will be there "leaving thy garland green." Her message to the reader is that comradery is better than romance since it's stronger and less fickle. She even tells the reader to make sure to have good friends by writing "and deck thee with the holly's sheen."

I feel by now it's rather obvious that in English literature the rose will forever be a symbol of love, be it mutual or rejected which can be found in its prickly thorns. Yet, in English floriography the meaning of the wild rose will remain "I wound to heal" which stems from Queen Elizabeth I's victory over Spain having launched England to a more global stage. This means that my wild rose symbolizes furthering yourself at the cost of someone else. I can definitely admit that this has happened in the past, for instance, with me healing from my trauma by inflicting it on someone else. It's hard to admit this but there's no use in being dishonest about it. In that way, I can say that my name has been a sign. I don't think this will be the case for anyone, but it sure is interesting to look into it. I had a lot of fun doing research on this topic which was coined by Bay Area Kei - Bibliotheca Blog Circle's theme for September and October "mirror."

Thank you, and take care.