There will always be misconceptions when taking something at face value. Take Tennessee’s state wildflower, the ‘Passions Flower’ for instance. Most leave the ‘s’ off, and take its name to describe the bloom’s complicated beauty as symbol of desire. However the name came from early Christian missionaries who saw within the flower images of the [...]

Borromeo (Italian): nickname for a pious person who had made the pilgrimage to Rome, or an amiable man who bore the given name “Romeo,” from the Italian “bono,” meaning good + Romeo + Roman = Borromeo. The Borromeo family ancestry can be traced to a Saint Justina who was martyred in 303. Skipping some centuries [...]