Courtly Love and Aubergines: What Medieval Literature Has in Common with Emojis

Isabella Managò conducts research into medieval literature and demonstrates that issues of gender, power and their representation are not an invention of the modern era. Photo: Uni Graz/Begsteiger

Plants and fruits were already used as symbols of love in the Middle Ages. German studies scholar Isabella Managò, together with her colleagues Brigitte Spreitzer-Fleck and Julia Zimmermann, explains how this came about and why this figurative language remains familiar to us to this day.

Peach and aubergine emojis have long since come to represent more than just fruit and vegetables. In text messages, they are sometimes used as code for the penis, vulva or buttocks. However, this form of encoding sexual innuendo is by no means a modern digital invention. Even medieval texts used nature as a way of talking about sexual desire.

>> Read more about this in Unizeit

Dagmar Eklaude

Related news

Surprise, spectacle, science: Astrophysicists observed a partial solar eclipse

The star of the show was the sun, and the programme featured a natural spectacle: the partial solar eclipse on the evening of 12 August 2026 drew crowds to Graz’s Schloßberg. The ‘sun-downer’ was accompanied by a dash of science from astrophysicists at the University of Graz.

Discussions on Europe’s digital future are taking place in Graz

Exactly three months before the event, the Technology Impact Summit (TIS) team is unveiling the programme for this year’s think tank event.

Preserving cultural heritage: Graz researchers make Roman inscriptions legible again

Researchers from the University of Graz and Graz University of Technology are working to save inscriptions carved in stone in Styria during Roman times from disappearing. They have developed a simple and cost-effective method to make inscriptions on tombs and votive altars – which have been weathered or damaged – legible again. They are currently testing the method on Roman stones at several sites across Styria. The aim is to provide other historians with a tool to preserve cultural heritage when expensive research equipment is not available. The method was recently published in the research journal Heritage Science.

When the sun goes dark: Enlightening for science and the people of Graz

When the moon partially passes in front of the sun in Graz on 12 August 2026, the event will once again captivate many people. This includes Manuela Temmer, an astrophysicist at the University of Graz. The scientist confirms that this celestial phenomenon offers significant value for research: “During a solar eclipse, the corona can be observed more clearly than with any instrument.”