A wild European rose with pink flowers and sweet-smelling leaves, also called sweetbriar.
From Old French aiglente, derived from Latin aculeatus meaning 'prickly' (from aculeus, 'needle'). The word traveled through French before entering English, with the meaning shifting to specifically describe this particular fragrant rose species.
Medieval poets called eglantine the flower of love and romance—it appears constantly in Shakespeare and Chaucer—because its thorny stems and sweet scent perfectly symbolized the beautiful pain of being in love. Nature's metaphor became literature's favorite rose.
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