And I’ve just found out it’s because of a German legend… The Knight’s Legend: often set by the Danube River, the legend tells of a knight walking with his lady. While trying to pick the blue flowers, he fell into the water and was swept away due to his heavy armour, throwing the flowers to her with the final plea to not forget him. How this unlikely tale spread to Britain – and indeed widely throughout Europe – isn’t explained.
That’s fascinating. The German wikipedia (and incidentally an old German gardening book which I just consulted) quote another story: the little flower begged God not be forgotten and got it’s name thus. The French wikipedia site also quotes your story and mentions that the name spread through all of Europe (although the French call it with a name of Greek origine meaning “ear” because of the form of the leaves, sometimes called “oreilles de souris”. [I love chasing down these informations.]
Even the French someties call it ‘ne-m’oubliez-pas’, though that’s a bit , well, maybe pretentious. When we lived there le myosotis was the usual monniker. We’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit-hole here, haven’t we?
pictures imperfect blog 
Pretty! What is the name of this flower, Elke?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ha ha! It’s ‘forget-me-not’. In English anyway.
LikeLiked by 2 people
haha! I walked into that one, didn’t I?! 🙄😂 Thanks, Margaret!
LikeLiked by 2 people
You certainly did! 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
In German it’s the same: “Vergiß mein nicht” (written as one word).
LikeLike
And I’ve just found out it’s because of a German legend… The Knight’s Legend: often set by the Danube River, the legend tells of a knight walking with his lady. While trying to pick the blue flowers, he fell into the water and was swept away due to his heavy armour, throwing the flowers to her with the final plea to not forget him. How this unlikely tale spread to Britain – and indeed widely throughout Europe – isn’t explained.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s fascinating. The German wikipedia (and incidentally an old German gardening book which I just consulted) quote another story: the little flower begged God not be forgotten and got it’s name thus. The French wikipedia site also quotes your story and mentions that the name spread through all of Europe (although the French call it with a name of Greek origine meaning “ear” because of the form of the leaves, sometimes called “oreilles de souris”. [I love chasing down these informations.]
LikeLike
Even the French someties call it ‘ne-m’oubliez-pas’, though that’s a bit , well, maybe pretentious. When we lived there le myosotis was the usual monniker. We’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit-hole here, haven’t we?
LikeLiked by 1 person
As befits a posting so close to Easter 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I thought it was obvious: They are forget-me-nots. (I usually hide the names, if I know them, in German and English in the tags.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
haha! Way over my head! 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😄
LikeLiked by 1 person