Folio § lale
Lale
Tulip
The story of the name
Lale — the tulip, a flower that bloomed on the slopes of Anatolia and Iran for four millennia before Europe noticed it. As a name it captures what is precious and yet small and brief.
Etymology
Root: lale · Persian / Kurmancî
Lale is the tulip — a flower native to Anatolia, the Caucasus and the Iranian plateau long before its 17th-century European fashion. The Persian word is the source of Turkish lale, Kurdish lale, and (via Turkish) of European tulip itself.
Name family
- Gul · cognate — rose — the other classical flower name
Linguistic parallels
- Laleh Persiska — Samma
- Lale Turkiska — Samma
Updated: 2026-05-02