This is the third post in a series on English Color Etymologies. Today we are looking at the colors that come from the names of fabrics, gems, minerals and metals.

English is a colorful language. Since its birth among the tribes of Europe, English has built its color vocabulary with the wealth of words it has inherited from Anglo-Saxon, Norman French, Latin, and Greek. Collected here are 172 colors that standard dictionaries (I used the American Heritage and the Random House) classify as specific color nouns (these do not, of course, include the standard ten – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, grey, white – or any Crayola inventions). This treasure of colors is broken down by etymological origin: is the color the name of a flower, an animal, or even a historical person? Some colors appear twice (when I felt two origins were sufficiently different). Others appear only once though they could certainly fit into several categories.

Ever wonder how a color got its name? Refer to the following and enjoy your new grasp on color!

FABRICS

Photo by snowriderguy

Various fabrics, often named for their city of origin, have become synonymous with specific colors.

From the Persian word for “rich cloth,” saquirlāt.	A coarse, woolen cloth for undergarments (no longer used).
A soft fabric of undyed wool.	A durable, German fabric used for making coats.
A coarse, green fabric similar to tweed.	A cloth formerly made in Lincoln, England.

GEMS, MINERALS, METALS

Photo by cayusa

The earth is a rich source of life, and color terminology.

Chemical symbol: HgS. The chief source of mercury.	A variety of corundum.
A dense variety of gypsum or calcite.	Hydrated ferric oxides (often on iron).
Chemical symbol: Au.	A hard, translucent fossil resin.
Small grains of disintegrated rock.	Earthy, mineral, iron oxides (also ochre).
A variety of crystalline quartz.	A variety of beryl.
Nephrite or jadeite.	A mineral of aluminum and copper (CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8∙5H2O).
A pigment created from copper carbonate or smalt.	Chemical symbol: Pt.
A variety of corundum.	A fine-grained metamorphic rock.
Chemical symbol: Ag.	A variety of corundum or quartz.
A copper alloy (10% tin).	A carbonaceous material that is 85%-98% pure carbon.
Calcium carbonate formed around a grain of sand.	A dense black coal (used for jewelry).
An aluminum silicate or a variety of quartz.	An alloy of copper and tin.
Chemical symbol: Cu.

Did I miss one? Add it!

Title by Laurence Shan

About the Guest Author, Jessica Alexander
Jessica Alexander is a writer, translator, and hopeless devotee of overstuffed dictionaries. For more titillating etymologies, check out dailycharacter. Or, if you just want to send her love letters…