rose

rose (n.) O.E. rose, from L. rosa (Cf. It., Sp. rosa, Fr. rose; also source of Du. roos, Ger. Rose, Swed. ros, etc.), probably via Italian and Greek dialects from Gk. rhodon "rose" (Aeolic wrodon), ultimately from Pers. *vrda-. But Cf. Tucker: "The rose was a special growth of Macedonia & the Thracian region as well as of Persia, & the Lat. & Gk. names prob. came from a Thraco-Phrygian source." Aramaic warda is from O.Persian; the modern Persian cognate, via the usual sound changes, is gul, source of Turk. gül "rose." The ultimate source of all this may be PIE *wrdho- "thorn, bramble."

Used of a color since 1530. In English civil wars of 15c., the white rose was the badge of the House of York, the red of its rival Lancaster. Rose-water is attested from late 14c. Rose-colored "optimistic" is first recorded 1854. In the figurative sense, bed of roses is from 1590s. Rose of Sharon (Song of Sol. ii:1) is attested from 1610s and named for the fertile strip of coastal Palestine. The flower has not been identified; used in U.S. since 1847 of the Syrian hibiscus.