All things purple: Etymology and definitions

Saturday, 23 August 2008

Etymology and definitions

The word 'purple' comes from the Old English word purpul which originates from the Latin purpura. This in turn is derived from the Koine Greek πορφύρα (porphyra), name of the dye manufactured in Classical antiquity from the mucus-secretion of the hypobranchial gland of a marine snail known as the Murex brandaris or the spiny dye-murex.^[4]

The first recorded use of the word 'purple' in English was in the year AD 975.^[5]

The color regarded as the standard for purple has changed over the years, from Tyrian Purple in ancient times to Electric Purple today.

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Anti-Apartheid Movement * The Purple Rain Protest was a protest against apartheid that took place in Cape Town, South Africa on 2 September 1989, in which a police water cannon with purple dye sprayed thousands of demonstrators. This led to the slogan The purple shall govern. [edit] Astronomy * One of the stars in the Pleiades, called Pleione, is sometimes called Purple Pleione because, being a fast spinning star, it has a purple hue caused by its blue-white color being obscured by a spinning ring of electrically excited red hydrogen gas.[12] [edit] Billiard Games * Purple is the color of the ball in Snooker Plus with a 10-point value. [edit] Calendars * Purple is associated with Saturday on the Thai solar calendar. Anyone may wear purple on Saturdays and anyone born on a Saturday may adopt purple as their color. [edit] Comedy * The Purple Onion is a celebrated comedy club in the North Beach area of San Francisco, California.[13] [edit] Dance * The Purple Moon Dance Project is a dance group in San Francisco.[14] [edit] Fraternities and sororities * Sigma Lambda Beta recognizes royal purple and pure white as its official fraternal colors. * Sigma Lambda Gamma recognizes majestic purple and shocking pink as its official colors. * Omega Psi Phi recognizes royal purple and old gold as their official colors. * Delta Phi Epsilon recognizes Royal Purple and Pure Gold as its official colors. [edit] Heraldry * Porpora, or purpure, was not one of the usual tinctures in European heraldry, being added at a late date to bring the number of tinctures plus metals to seven, so that they could be given planetary associations. The classic early example of purpure is in the coat of arms of the Kingdom of León: argent, a lion purpure, as early as 1245. [edit] History * Byzantine empresses gave birth in the Purple Chamber of the palace of the Byzantine Emperors. Therefore, being named Porphyrogenitus ("born to the purple") marked a dynastic emperor as opposed to a general who won the throne by his effort. * In China, the Chinese name of the Forbidden City literally means "purple forbidden city" 紫禁城 with first character 紫 meaning purple (even though the Chinese Emperor himself wore yellow, which was considered in China to be the imperial color). [edit] Holocaust * The purple triangle was a Nazi concentration camp badge used by the Nazis to identify several un-orthodox non-conformist religious groups known as Bibelforscher, mostly Jehovah’s Witnesses. [15] [edit] Literature * Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, said, "Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender." * As a result of its association with royalty and luxury, the term 'purple' is often used to describe pretentious or overly embellished literature. For example, a paragraph containing an excessive number of long and unusual words is called a purple passage (see Purple prose). [edit] Microbiology * In April 2007 it was suggested that early archaea may have used retinal, a purple pigment, instead of chlorophyll, to extract energy from the sun. If so, large areas of the ocean and shoreline would have been colored purple; this is called the Purple Earth theory.[16] [edit] Military * In the United States and United Kingdom militaries, purple refers to programs or assignments that are "joint", i. e., that are not confined to a single service such as the Army or Navy, but apply to the entire defense establishment. Assignment to one or more joint billets is required for promotion to flag rank (Rear Admiral and higher) in the U.S. Navy. Officers in joint billets are sometimes referred to as "wearing purple" (the phrase is purely metaphorical as there are no purple uniforms in the U.S. or UK armed forces). * During and before World War II, the Japanese used a code known as PURPLE or the Purple Code. The Allies' military successes in the Pacific theater depended on the fact that the Japanese did not know that Allied cryptographers had broken the code. * The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after 5 April 1917 with the U.S. military. [edit] Music * Purple Rain, song by Prince * Start Wearing Purple is a song by gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. * Deep Purple is a rock band.[17] * "Deep Purple" (song) is also the name of a popular song that was the favorite song of Babe Ruth. * "Purple People Eater" was one of the biggest rock and roll hits of 1958.[18] * "Purple Haze" is one of the most popular songs by Jimi Hendrix.[19] * Purple is the favorite color of the pop celebrity Prince. His 1984 film and album Purple Rain is one of his best known works. The title track is Prince's signature song and is nearly always played in concert to this day. Prince encourages his fans to wear purple to his concerts.[20] * Purple Ribbon Records is a hip-hop record label owned by rapper Big Boi of the rap duo Outkast. 2005 saw the release of the mixtape Got Purp? Vol 2 featuring the Purple Ribbon All-Stars and other artists on the label. * Purple is a 1994 album by the band Stone Temple Pilots. * Purple Music, Inc is a company in Switzerland that produces house music.[21] * The New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969, and its original lineup included members of the Grateful Dead. * Purple was Frank Zappa's favorite color. [22] * The Purple Bottle is a song by noise pop band Animal Collective from their Feels album. [edit] Oenology * There is a winemaker in the Napa Valley of Northern California named Alex Cose who is with a company called the Purple Wine Co. that specializes in the production of wines for restaurants that is poured by the glass.[23] [edit] Parapsychology * People with purple auras are said to have a love of ritual and ceremony.[24] [edit] Politics * In the politics in the Netherlands, purple ("paars" in Dutch) means a government coalition of right-liberals and socialists (symbolized by blue and red, respectively), as opposed to the more common coalitions of the Christian-democratic center-party with one of the other two. From 1994 to 2002 there have been two purple cabinets. * In United States politics, a purple state is a state equally balanced between Republicans (normally symbolized by red) and Democrats (normally symbolized as blue)(See red states and blue states). * In British politics, purple is used to represent the United Kingdom Independence Party, a eurosceptic party wanting to pull Britain out of the European Union [edit] Rhyme * Robert Burns rhymes purple with "curple" in his Epistle to Mrs. Scott. Burns is, as far as we can tell, the only writer to have used the word. A curple refers to 1) the small of the waist before the flare of the hips or 2) a derriere, rump or behind. * Curple is a word out of Scotland, which refers to the hindquarters of a horse. The current Shorter OED lists 'curple' dating from 1591. * In the song Grace Kelly by Mika the word purple is rhymed with "hurtful". * In his hit song "Dang Me," Roger Miller sings these lines: Roses are red, violets are purple Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple [sic] * Hirple is a British word, which means "to walk lamely or hobble". * A "Purple Nurple" is when one pinches the nipple of another person and twists, thus making it purple. [edit] Sacred Scriptures * In the Byzantine Empire, Gospel manuscripts were written in gold lettering on parchment that was colored Tyrian purple.[25] [edit] Sexuality Today the color purple is also known as a "pride" color among the gay community. * At the 24 June 2007 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, Yahoo passed out 3 7/16" in diameter round plastic stickers with a picture of a gay man or woman imaged as one of the Yahoo Gay Pride avatars against an HTML/CSS Purple background that said Out, Proud, and Purple. [26] * In the mid 1970s, there was a gay piano bar at 2223 Market St. between Noe and Castro in San Francisco called the Purple Pickle. [27] [edit] Science Fiction * In the Star Trek universe, Klingons have purple blood.[28] * In the Star Wars universe, Jedi Master Mace Windu has a purple lightsaber. * Trance Gemini from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda was purple in the first few seasons. [edit] Sports * The National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings use purple as their primary color, though the Lakers formerly used the term "Forum Blue", in reference to their old arena The Forum. The National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings use purple as one of their primary colors. In Major League Baseball, purple is one of the primary colors for the Colorado Rockies. In the National Football League, the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens use purple as main colors. [edit] Transpersonal Psychology * In 1976, a chart by Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson called The Periodic Table of Energy outlining the philosophy of Dr. Timothy Leary (The Eight Circuit Model of Consciousness)[29]was given out by the Starflight Network, a group in Berkeley, California that was founded by Robert Anton Wilson to promulgate Dr. Timothy Leary's philosophy. The Eighth or Psycho-Atomic Circuit was represented on the chart by the color psychedelic purple. [30] [edit] Video Games * In the video game World of Warcraft, items of an "Epic" quality (extremely rare items) are the color purple, and are often referred to as "Purples".