Here There and Everywhere

Colorful Answers

Amethyst:

Main Entry:
am·e·thyst
Pronunciation:
\ˈa-mə-thəst, -(ˌ)thist\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English amatiste, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French, from Latin amethystus, from Greek amethystos, literally, remedy against drunkenness, from a- + methyein to be drunk, from methy wine — more at mead
Date:
13th century
1 a: a clear purple or bluish-violet variety of crystallized quartz that is often used as a jeweler’s stone b: a deep purple variety of corundum
2: a moderate purple
— am·e·thys·tine \ˌa-mə-ˈthis-tən\ adjective

Argent
argent

Main Entry:
ar·gent
Pronunciation:
\ˈär-jənt\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French, from Latin argentum; akin to Greek argyros silver, argos white, Sanskrit rajata whitish, silvery
Date:
15th century
1archaic : the metal silver; also : whiteness
2: the heraldic color silver or white
— argent adjective

Azure
azure

Main Entry:
azure
Pronunciation:
\ˈa-zhər\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English asur, from Anglo-French azeure, probably from Old Spanish, modification of Arabic lāzaward, from Persian lāzhuward
Date:
14th century
1archaic : lapis lazuli
2 a: the blue color of the clear sky b: the heraldic color blue
3: the unclouded sky
— azure adjective

Celadon
celadon

Main Entry:
cel·a·don
Pronunciation:
\ˈse-lə-ˌdän, -lə-dən\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
French céladon
Date:
circa 1768
1: a grayish-yellow green
2: a ceramic glaze originated in China that is greenish in color; also : an article with a celadon glaze

Cerise
cerise

Main Entry:
ce·rise
Pronunciation:
\sə-ˈrēs, -ˈrēz\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
French, literally, cherry, from Late Latin ceresia — more at cherry
Date:
1844
: a moderate red

Chartreuse
Main Entry:
char·treuse
Pronunciation:
\shär-ˈtrüz, -ˈtrüs\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Chartreuse
Date:
1884
: a variable color averaging a brilliant yellow green

Dun
in Entry:
1dun
Pronunciation:
\ˈdən\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Middle English, from Old English dunn — more at dusk
Date:
before 12th century
1 a: having the color dun bof a horse : having a grayish-yellow coat with black mane and tail
2: marked by dullness and drabness
— dun·ness \ˈdən-nəs\ noun

Magenta
Main Entry:
ma·gen·ta
Pronunciation:
\mə-ˈjen-tə\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Magenta, Italy
Date:
1860
1 : fuchsin
2 : a deep purplish red

Puce
puce

Main Entry:
puce
Pronunciation:
\ˈpyüs\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
French, literally, flea, from Old French pulce, from Latin pulic-, pulex — more at psylla
Date:
1833
: a dark red

Smalt
smalt

Main Entry:
smalt
Pronunciation:
\ˈsmȯlt\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle French, from Old Italian smalto, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German smelzan to melt — more at smelt
Date:
1558
: a deep blue pigment consisting of a powdered glass that contains oxide of cobalt

Smaragd:
Main Entry:
sma·ragd
Pronunciation:
\smə-ˈragd, ˈsma-ˌragd\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English smaragde, from Latin smaragdus, from Greek smaragdos, of Semitic origin; akin to Akkadian barraqtu gemstone
Date:
13th century
: emerald
— sma·rag·dine \smə-ˈrag-dən, ˈsma-rəg-ˌdīn\ adjective

Terra Cotta
terra-cotta

Main Entry:
ter·ra–cot·ta
Pronunciation:
\ˌter-ə-ˈkä-tə\
Function:
noun
Usage:
often attributive
Etymology:
Italian terra cotta, literally, baked earth
Date:
1722
1: a glazed or unglazed fired clay used especially for statuettes and vases and architectural purposes (as roofing, facing, and relief ornamentation); also : something made of this material
2: a brownish orange

Turmeric

turmeric

Main Entry:
tur·mer·ic
Pronunciation:
\ˈtər-mə-rik also ˈtü-mə- or ˈtyü-\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English turmeryte
Date:
15th century
1 : an Indian perennial herb (Curcuma longa syn. C. domestica) of the ginger family with a large aromatic yellow rhizome
2 : the boiled, dried, and usually ground rhizome of the turmeric plant used as a coloring agent, a flavoring, or a stimulant
3 : a yellow to reddish-brown dyestuff obtained from turmeric

Turnsole
The dyestuff folium or turnsole, prepared from the annual plant Crozophora tinctoria (“dyers’ crook carrier”, from its use and the curved tip of its spike of florets), was a mainstay of medieval manuscript illuminators from the development of the technique for extracting it in the thirteenth century (Thompson and Hamilton 1933:41). It joined the vegetal-based woad and indigo in the illuminator’s repertory, but the queen of blue colorants was always the expensive lapis lazuli or its substitute azurite, ground to the finest powders. According to its method of preparation, turnsole produced a range of translucent colors from blue, through purple to red, according to its reaction to the acidity or alkalinity of its environment, in the chemical reaction, not understood in the Middle Ages, that is most familiar in the Litmus test.
Folium (“leaf”), was actually derived from the three-lobed fruit, not the leaves. in the early fifteenth century, Cennino Cennini, in his Libro dell’ Arte gives a recipe “IXVIII: How you should tint paper turnsole color” and “ILXXVI To paint a purple or turnsole drapery in fresco.” Textiles soaked in the dye vat would be left in a close damp cellar in an atmosphere produced by pans of urine. It was not realized that the oxidizing urine was producing ammonia, but the technique reminds us how foul-smelling was the dyer’s art.
The colorant was downgraded to a shading glaze and fell out of use in the illuminator’s palette by the turn of the seventeenth century, with the easier availability of less fugitive mineral-derived blue pigments.
Turnsole was used as a food colorant, mentioned in Du Fait de Cuisine which suggests steeping it in milk. The French Cook by François Pierre La Varenne (London 653) mentions turnsole grated in water with a little powder of Iris.
Herbals indicated that the plant grows on sunny, well-drained Mediterranean slopes and called it solsequium from its sunflower-habit of turning its flowers to face the sun, or “Greater Verucaria”;[1] early botanical works gave it synonyms of Morella, Heliotropium tricoccum and Croton tinctorium. (from Wikipedia)

Verdigris
Main Entry:
ver·di·gris
Pronunciation:
\ˈvər-də-ˌgrēs, -ˌgris, -grəs also -ˌgrē\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English vertegrese, from Anglo-French verdegrece, vert de Grece, literally, green of Greece
Date:
14th century
1 a: a green or greenish-blue poisonous pigment resulting from the action of acetic acid on copper and consisting of one or more basic copper acetates b: normal copper acetate Cu(C2H3O2)2·H2O
2: a green or bluish deposit especially of copper carbonates formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces

Except for turnsole, all the definitions above came from Merriam-Webster.com

I especially loved looking on Wikipedia. They always tell you more than you need to know, and I can get lost learning new things about a word I don’t know.

March 23, 2008 Posted by intlxpatr | Education, Language, Tools, Words | 4 Comments