Photo or painting? And why stepmother?

Nowadays, many things are edited so that you can no longer recognize them. This is a photo that has been edited and turned into a painting.

You can make what is depicted more beautiful or uglier, in this case I think that the beauty has only become more beautiful. The photo was taken on a whim, but the "pansies" were literally crying out for it.

But why the name stepmother for the depicted plant in German?

The English and Portuguese language is much simpler, it has nothing to do with the stepmother.

In English it is called "Pansy" and has nothing to do with the stepmother, in Portuguese it is called "Pensativo" and not "Madrasta".

The Germans, as always of course, go their own way and call the plant Stiefmütterchen (Stepmother or Madrasta).

Why it drags the poor woman into it in German raises questions. Why Stepmother? The Germans want an explanation for everything and this is what they come up with:

"It's supposed to be the arrangement of the leaves ... the stepdaughters are covered by the stepmother, the stepdaughters in turn cover their stepsisters ... or vice versa or something like that."

At least one explanation, but you have to think it up first. And what do "stepsisters and stepdaughters" have to do with it?

Perhaps you have a sensible explanation of why in German it refers to the innocent stepmother and her children, whether "stepchildren or your own". Or more generally, what the "stepmother / pensativo / pansy" means to you, or in your language area.

Just write it in the comments!


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