Editing Carl Linnaeus (section)

==Early life==
===Childhood===
{{See also|Linné family}}[[File:LA2-Rashult-2.jpg|thumb|right|Birthplace at [[Råshult]]]]

Linnaeus was born in the village of [[Råshult]] in [[Småland]], Sweden, on 23 May 1707. He was the first child of Nicolaus (Nils) Ingemarsson (who later adopted the family name Linnaeus) and Christina Brodersonia. His siblings were Anna Maria Linnæa, Sofia Juliana Linnæa, Samuel Linnæus (who would eventually succeed their father as [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of Stenbrohult and write a manual on [[beekeeping]]),<ref name="Blunt12"/><ref>[[#Stöver|Stöver (1794)]], p. 8.</ref><ref>[[#Broberg|Broberg (2006)]], p. 10.</ref> and Emerentia Linnæa.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nicolaus Linnæus|url=http://www.geni.com/people/Nicolaus-Linn%C3%A6us/6000000006836790143|website=Geni|date=July 1674|access-date=27 January 2016|archive-date=3 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203132030/http://www.geni.com/people/Nicolaus-Linn%C3%A6us/6000000006836790143|url-status=live}}</ref> His father taught him Latin as a small child.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.famousscientists.org/carolus-linnaeus/|title=Carolus Linnaeus – Biography, Facts and Pictures|website=FamousScientists.org|language=en-US|access-date=10 April 2019|archive-date=6 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406164711/https://www.famousscientists.org/carolus-linnaeus/|url-status=live}}</ref>

One of a long line of peasants and priests, Nils was an amateur [[botanist]], a [[Lutheran]] minister, and the [[curate]] of the small village of Stenbrohult in Småland. Christina was the daughter of the rector of Stenbrohult, Samuel Brodersonius.<ref>[[#Fries|Fries (2011)]], p. 376.</ref>

A year after Linnaeus's birth, his grandfather Samuel Brodersonius died, and his father Nils became the rector of Stenbrohult. The family moved into the [[Clergy house|rectory]] from the curate's house.<ref name="Blunt13"/><ref>[[#Quammen|Quammen (2007)]], p. 1.</ref>

Even in his early years, Linnaeus seemed to have a liking for plants, flowers in particular. Whenever he was upset, he was given a flower, which immediately calmed him. Nils spent much time in his garden and often showed flowers to Linnaeus and told him their names. Soon Linnaeus was given his own patch of earth where he could grow plants.<ref>[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], p. 15.</ref>

Carl's father was the first in his ancestry to adopt a permanent surname. Before that, ancestors had used the [[patronymic]] naming system of Scandinavian countries: his father was named Ingemarsson after his father Ingemar Bengtsson. When Nils was admitted to the [[Lund University]], he had to take on a family name. He adopted the Latinate name Linnæus after a giant [[linden tree]] (or lime tree), ''{{lang|sv|lind}}'' in Swedish, that grew on the family homestead.<ref name="Blunt12">[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], p. 12.</ref> This name was spelled with the [[æ]] [[Typographic ligature|ligature]]. When Carl was born, he was named Carl Linnæus, with his father's family name. The son also always spelled it with the æ ligature, both in handwritten documents and in publications.<ref name="Blunt13">[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], p. 13.</ref> Carl's patronymic would have been Nilsson, as in Carl Nilsson Linnæus.<ref>Gribbin, M., & Gribbin, J. (2008). ''Flower hunters''. Oxford University Press, US. Pg. 29. {{isbn|0199561826}}</ref>

===Early education===
[[File:Linnaeus - Örtaboken, early manuscript, 1725.jpg|thumb|''Örtaboken'' (Herb book), an early Linnaeus manuscript, 1725]]
Linnaeus's father began teaching him basic Latin, religion, and geography at an early age.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thomson|first1=Thomas|title=History of the Royal Society From Its Institution to the End of the Eighteenth Century|year=2011|orig-year=1812|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1-108-02815-8|page=35|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUlt0htkZZgC}}</ref> When Linnaeus was seven, Nils decided to hire a tutor for him. The parents picked Johan Telander, a son of a local [[yeoman]]. Linnaeus did not like him, writing in his autobiography that Telander "was better calculated to extinguish a child's talents than develop them".<ref>[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], pp. 15–16.</ref>

Two years after his tutoring had begun, he was sent to the Lower [[Grammar School]] at [[Växjö]] in 1717.<ref>[[#Stöver|Stöver (1794)]], p. 5.</ref> Linnaeus rarely studied, often going to the countryside to look for plants. At some point, his father went to visit him and, after hearing critical assessments by his preceptors, he decided to put the youth as an apprentice to some honest cobbler.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Caddy |first1=Florence |title=Through the Fields with Linnaeus: A Chapter in Swedish History |date=1887 |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AHFkAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA43 |access-date=10 April 2021}}</ref> He reached the last year of the Lower School when he was fifteen, which was taught by the headmaster, Daniel Lannerus, who was interested in botany. Lannerus noticed Linnaeus's interest in botany and gave him the run of his garden.

He also introduced him to Johan Rothman, the state doctor of Småland and a teacher at [[Katedralskolan, Växjö|Katedralskolan]] (a [[Gymnasieskola|gymnasium]]) in Växjö. Also a botanist, Rothman broadened Linnaeus's interest in botany and helped him develop an interest in medicine.<ref>[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], p. 16.</ref><ref>[[#Stöver|Stöver (1794)]], pp. 5–6.</ref> By the age of 17, Linnaeus had become well acquainted with the existing botanical literature. He remarks in his journal that he "read day and night, knowing like the back of my hand, Arvidh Månsson's ''Rydaholm Book of Herbs'', Tillandz's ''Flora Åboensis'', [[Johannes Palmberg|Palmberg's]] ''Serta Florea Suecana'', Bromelii's ''Chloros Gothica'' and Rudbeckii's ''Hortus Upsaliensis''".<ref>Carl von Linnés betydelse såsom naturforskare och läkare : skildringar utgifna af Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien i anledning af tvåhundraårsdagen af Linnés födelse ([https://runeberg.org/linne200ar/linnebotan/0007.html source] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224084253/https://runeberg.org/linne200ar/linnebotan/0007.html |date=24 February 2021 }})</ref>

Linnaeus entered the Växjö Katedralskola in 1724, where he studied mainly [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[theology]], and [[mathematics]], a curriculum designed for boys preparing for the priesthood.<ref>[[#Stöver|Stöver (1794)]], p. 6.</ref><ref>[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], pp. 16–17.</ref> In the last year at the gymnasium, Linnaeus's father visited to ask the professors how his son's studies were progressing; to his dismay, most said that the boy would never become a scholar. Rothman believed otherwise, suggesting Linnaeus could have a future in medicine. The doctor offered to have Linnaeus live with his family in Växjö and to teach him [[physiology]] and botany. Nils accepted this offer.<ref name="Blunt17-18">[[#Blunt|Blunt (2004)]], pp. 17–18.</ref><ref>[[#Stöver|Stöver (1794)]], pp. 8–11.</ref>