Viriditas
Latin word coined by Hildegard Von Bingen, literally means “greenness” and symbolically means growth or the principle of life.
Hildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179) fascinates me. The first major German mystic, she wrote profusely as a prophet, a poet, a dramatist, a musician, a physician, and a political moralist. She was a woman of extraordinarily energetic and independent mind, who exerted a tremendous influence—both temporal and spiritual—on her time.
According to Hildegard and other thinkers from the Middle Ages, life from God was transmitted into the plants, animals, and precious gems. People in turn ate the plants and animals and acquired some of the gems, thereby obtaining viriditas. People then gave out viriditas through the virtues, hence their importance in the chain of being.