English
purple
Purple comes from Latin purpura ‘purple dye, shellfish’, and goes back to Ancient Greek πορφύρα.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπορφύραporphúra‘purple-fish’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpurpura‘purple dye, shellfish’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150purpure‘purple colour’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150purpul
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500purple
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπορφύραporphúra‘purple-fish’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpurpura‘purple dye, shellfish’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150purpure‘purple colour’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150purpul
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500purple
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592same form
Earliest quotation: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “O may ſuch purple teares be alway ſhed”.
The story
The sense of "imperial power" is from the wearing of the color purple by emperors and kings.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- ‘to boil’
brand, bread, burn, brew, broth, bourbon, brunt, bourne, brim, fervor, fervent, ferment, bren, effervescent, broil, briny, 40 more
through Ancient Greek πορφύρα ‘purple-fish’
through Latin purpura ‘purple dye, shellfish’
Today it means
noun A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek πορφύρα / purple