Color me intrigued

Before the pantone: 10 color shades with old names

Colors come in a multitude of shades, most of them with a very specific name. Some of these names are a reference to a common object of that color —for example, ruby, maize, or lavender— while others, much more modern, are just a product of marketing, popular use, or just imagination —such as razzle dazzle rose, school bus yellow, or French blue. But some specific shade names have a story that goes back centuries, across different cultures and traditions. Here are ten color shades and the history behind their name.

This vibrant red-orange shade takes its name from an ancient pigment, highly toxic, made from cinnabar, a form of mercury. Its name comes from the Old French vermeillon, derived from vermiculus, a diminutive of the Latin vermis (‘worm’). What did this toxic pigment have to do with worms? An insect called Kermes vermilio was used to make a natural dye in a similar shade, but much more common than cinnabar, so its name became popular and was used for all similar red-orange shades.

Described as a shade that goes from light-brown to brownish-orange, tawny is associated with tanned leather, not only in color but in the origin of its name. Celts used tannum or crushed oak bark to treat animal hides and produce leather. Though Latin, this word made its way into Old French as tauné, ‘tan leather colored’, and then into English.

With a name that alludes to the sea, the origin of this deep blue shade seems to be quite straightforward, except it isn’t. Ultramarine blue takes its name from the Ultramarine pigment, made from grinding lapis lazuli stone. This pigment, as costly as gold, was imported from Afghanistan by Venetian merchants, who called it (azzurro) oltramarino or ‘(blue) from beyond the sea’.

Now described as cream or grayish yellow, ecru was initially used to describe the color of unbleached linen. Before bleached into a creamy white color, linen would retain the color of the dried flax fibers used to weave it. The French word écru, meaning ‘raw’ or ‘unbleached’, initially served as a mere descriptor of the fabric's state, but was eventually associated with its color.

To no one’s surprise, the name of this blueish-green shade comes from French. But although its French equivalent, vert-de-gris, means ‘green of gray’, there is no gray in its origin. There are two possible origins for this name: the first one is vert d'aigre or ‘green made with vinegar’, because a pigment of this name was made using copper and vinegar. The second one ties this shade to art objects imported from Greece, which gave way to the name vert-de-Grèce, ‘green of Greece’.

Indigo is used to describe a variety of blue shades, from the dark blue in the rainbow to various blue hues that can be achieved using indigo dye. Originally, the term indigo, from the Latin indicum (‘Indian’), was specifically used for a pigment made from the Indigofera plant and exported from India. Later on, the term became synonymous with the various blue shades resulting from that dye.

Nowadays, we automatically associate the color sepia with old photographs, but did you know its name and hue come from a fish? In ancient Greece and Rome, the ink of the sepia cuttlefish was used for writing, and it remained a commonly used drawing ink up until the early 19th century, when it started being used for watercolors and oil paints.

This one is tricky. As a color, auburn is a shade of brown, though it is often used to describe a specific type of red hair that has a mixture of red and brown tones. The term auburn, however, has nothing to do with red nor with brown. It comes from the French alborne, derived from the Latin alburnus or ‘off-white’, and it was used for blond people. How did it come to mean reddish-brown? Auburn and brown sounded similar.

Technically, there is no color named purpura in modern English, but there used to be. Made from crushed sea snails, the purpura dye was extremely expensive, and it became associated with royalty. Originally called porphura by the Greeks, the word was latinized as purpura, and was later adopted into English as purpul, from where we get the modern ‘purple’. So, while purpura is the original purple, it is nowadays called Tyrian or royal purple to avoid confusion.

This reddish-orange shade gets its name from the jasper, a semiprecious quartz known for having a pattern. The name ‘jasper’ comes from the Greek iaspis, meaning ‘spotted or speckled stone’. While there are multiple colors of jasper stones, the most common one is red, so the name of the stone became synonymous with that shade.

Which one would you learn?

Did you know about these 12 benefits of learning a new language?

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Learning a new language can benefit you in many ways, including improving your brain function, communication skills, and confidence. It can also help you understand other cultures and travel to foreign countries with greater independence. Take a look at these 12 great reasons to learn a new language.

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Learning a new language means mastering a whole new set of grammar rules and vocabulary. As the brain works to keep up with the language’s complexities and absorb its patterns, new developments occur within it. Just like muscles, the brain becomes stronger and more efficient the more it is used.

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It’s no secret that the human attention span is steadily shrinking. This is mainly due to new technologies designed to compress and deliver information in the shortest possible time.

Learning a new language can be an antidote to this trend. Researchers suggest that regularly switching between languages helps the brain maintain focus and block distractions.

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Learning a language is like acquiring a valuable tool, and as such, it is highly sought after by companies operating in multilingual markets. Nowadays, the demand for bilingual candidates is greater than ever. By acquiring a foreign language, a person can significantly increase their job opportunities and advance up the career ladder much faster.

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Creativity often involves combining unrelated concepts, and few activities do this better than learning a new language, where you have to assign a new word to every single known concept. This shift in perspective fosters the creative part of the brain.

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People learn their mother tongue intuitively and without formal education. However, learning another language requires studying grammar, vocabulary, idioms, and sentence structure. As learners progress in a second language, they become more aware of the structure and rules of their first language.

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When the brain practices switching between languages, it exercises its multitasking ability. As it becomes accustomed to this demanding task, it adapts and improves its ability to multitask in other areas as well.

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It should come as no surprise that exercising the brain can delay its decline in senior adults and keep it sharper for longer. On that note, learning a new language is an excellent way for retirees to continue challenging their minds and maintain mental agility.

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Learning a language involves storing large amounts of new information in your brain. That’s why people who speak more than one language tend to have better memory retention. They are often better at remembering lists, names, phone numbers, and directions than those who speak only one language.

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Learning a new language often puts you in the spotlight, with many opportunities to make mistakes, especially during the early stages. This makes it a great exercise for building self-esteem, as it encourages learners to push through discomfort until they feel confident in any situation.

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Communicating with someone through hand gestures, basic words, or a third person is very different from speaking with them in their own language. The experience of interacting with another person is greatly enriched by sharing their language.

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Making decisions in a language other than your native tongue often leads to more reasoned and logical choices. This is because the brain takes extra steps to process information in a different language, which adds time and encourages more deliberate thinking.

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Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentine writer, learned German so he could read Goethe in the original language. While this might sound like a rare example, it’s undeniable that reading the exact words a writer chose offers a richer and more rewarding experience than reading a translation, no matter how good the translation may be.

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