Searchable Lemmata: purpura (L), purpureus (L), purpure (OE), purpuren (OE), purpre (AF), purpure (ME), porffor (W), porpor (W), porpor (Co), purpuir (Ir), pourpur (OScots), purpure (MdE).
Alternate Forms: poirpre, porpere, porpre, pourpour, pourpre, pourpure, puper, pupre, pupuran, purenia, purpeir, purper, purpere, purpir, purpor, purpour, purpras, purpree, purpres, purpur, purpuram, purpurea, purpureas, purpuree, purpurei, purpureis, purpureo, purpureum, purpurii, purpurum.
1a(adj.)
Dye;
as colour noun or adjective, used to refer to various colours ranging from purple, dark red, crimson, violet to bluish; purple, crimson or violet or bluish; formerly described many reddish hues but increasingly used to describe modern purple, violet or dark crimson. dye or colour of dark red or crimson; originally the Tyrian purple dye extracted in ancient times from a gland of molluscs of the genera Purpura, Murex, Thais, Buccinum and Mucella; dye-stuff, producing the colour purple and obtained from the whelk, genus Buccinum (cf. purpure). Often the colour was limited for use by kings, emperors or nobility. Note the phrase 'born to the purple' = literally born in the purple chamber reserved from Byzantine royalty, hence 'of high birth'. As a colour name it was also applied to amethyst, which was not dyed.
Appears attributively as noun and as adj.; also appears in compounds: purpur water, purpur colour, purpur hwe, purpre rede, purpure blacnez ('purple blackness', dark purple), pourpre cloþ, purpur prycep; also alba purpura ('white purple', purple silk). The colour also appears in heraldic contexts (see 1b). Cf. purple.(circa 700 - ante 1800)
1. Purpura apud Latinos a puritate lucis vocata. Apud Graecos autem PORFURA dicitur cum adspiratione, apud nos purpura sine adspiratione. Ferrugo color est purpurae subnigrae quae fit in Hispania, ut (Virg. Aen. 9,582): Ferrugine clarus Ibera. Dicta autem ferrugo quod omnis purpura prima tinctura eiusmodi coloris existat.
[DOE ISID. Etym. (19,28,5-6)]
3. [55] ... pallium coccineum et legulam [gl.: fibulam, oferfenc, dalc] auri sibi usurpans ... [56] ... numquid ... creator omnium Deus hirsutas bidentum lanas ... non potuit ... purpureis [gl.: i. rubris] tincturae muricibus [hypallage] naturaliter colorare?
[DMLBS ALDH. (VirgP 55-56) ante 709]
7. [2143] ... Or volt li reis de ceste terre Trover e dras e guarnement ... [2146] ... cendals purpres e bis
Biblical/Hagiographic.
[AND S Gile (2143-6) circa 1160]
9. [3.77] ... Þis was þe firste kyng of Romayns þat vsede purpur ... and branderers and reueres [vr. brouders and revers; L fascibus, ?misread as: fasciis] ... [3.85] ... Þis Ieremyas sigh his brigirdel [vr. brygurdel; Higd.(2): braygirdle; L lumbare] yrotet bysides þe ryuer Eufrates
Heroic, Romance.
[MED Trev.Higd. ((StJ-C H.1) 3.77-85) ante 1387]
10. [197a] ... Amatistus is purpre rede in colour, y-medlid wiþ colour of violette ... [197b] ... Alabandina is a precious stoon and haþ þat name of a regioun of Asia þe which hatte alabandina.
Other.
[MED *Trev.Barth. ((Add 27944) 197a/b) ante 1398]
11. Amatiste þat is a purpre & haþ þe colour medle of violet & of Rose ... bitokneþ hem þat ... desiren þe felawschippes of aungels & Martirs & confessours, & þere of hij han þe colour medle as purpre, violet, & Rose
Ecclesiastic/Regula.
[MED Ancr. ((Pep 2498) 180/6,10) ante 1400]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
1b(n.)
Decoration;
purple or purplish tincture used in heraldry.(ante 1400 still in current use)
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Ceremonial: Yes
Body Parts: N/A.
2(n.)
Textile;
rich, silken cloth; in some (but not all) instances refers to a cloth of a purple or crimson colour. Also, a garment of this cloth; a purple robe or vestment.
By extension, the term was used to refer to purple cloth as a symbol of power, and by transference, to abstract notions of power or sovereignty; purple (cloth) as a sign of status. Also used to refer to the purple garment with which Christ is mockingly decorated during the Passion.
Dodwell, C. R. (1982), pp. 145-150 suggests it was shot-silk taffeta; Crowfoot, E., F. Pritchard and K. Staniland (2000) suggests it was a compound weave (p. 90).(ante 700 - ante 1600)
2. Hit wæs swiðe hnesce, scinende swa swa purpura, ac hi ne mihton tocnawan hwilces cynnes hit wære, ne hi ne mihton undergitan buton hit wære reaf, ne mid heora grapunge, ne mid heora sceawunge.
[DOE ÆLS (Martin) (019800 (816))]
3. Mid þam þe heo þæt gehirde, heo hi silfe mid cynelicum reafe gefrætwode and mid purpran gescridde and hire heafod mid golde and mid gimmon geglængde and mid micclum fæmnena heape ymbtrimed com togeanes þam cynge.
[DOE ApT (023800 (48.3))]
4. curtinarum sive stragularum textura ... curtinae veteris delubri ... ex auro, jacintho, purpura [gl.: purpura apud Latinos a puritate lucis vocata, apud Grecos purphira dicitur, godwebbe], bis tincto cocco sive vermiculo cum bisso retorto dispari murice fulsisse describuntur
Biblical/Hagiographic.
[DMLBS ALDH. (VirgP 15) ante 709]
5. Ðæt hrægl wæs beboden ðæt scolde bion geworht of purpuran & of tweobleom derodine & of twispunnenum twine linenum & gerenod mid golde & mid ðæm stane iacincta, forðæm ðæt wære getacnod on hu mislecum & on hu monigfaldum mægenum se sacerd scolde scinan beforan Gode, mannum to biesene.
[DOE CP (0342 (14.83.22)) circa 890/895]
6. Eac ðæm golde & ðæm line wæs ongemang purpura, ðæt is cynelic hrægl, forðæm hit tacnað kynelicne anwald.
[DOE CP (0347 (14.85.9))]
7. et induunt eum purpura et inponunt ei plectentes spineam coronam & gegearwadon hine mið felle reade hrægle & onsetton him cursendo ł slægendo ðyrnenne beg.
[DOE MkGl (Li) (0628 (15.17))]
14. [228] ... O tocne þet me wyle kueme þe wordle is þe agrayþinge aboute þet body ... [228/15] ... Maydenhod is þe huite robe huerinne þe spot is uouler and more yzyenne þanne in anoþer cloþ ... [229/5] ... Hi ham cloþeþ ... mid pourpre [Vices & V.(2): in purpre] and mid uayre robes and costuolle
Poetic.
[MED Ayenb. ((Arun 57) 228-229) 1340]
16. [106/10] ... And þei schule be cloþed wiþ ournamentis, wiþ gold, & purpur, & wiþ bri3t cloþinge as of spouses ... [106/27] ... Þai sal be cled with ornamentes of gold & purpyll [Meth.(1): wiþ gold & purpur]
Philosophy.
[MED Methodius(1) ((Hrl 1900) 106/10) ante 1425]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Status: High Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
Definite, OE purpure, purpuran; Old French porpre, pourpre, purpre; from Classical L purpura; purpereus (itself from Greek). In OE the adjective or attrib. was expressed by the genitive noun purpuran, or the derivative adjective purpuren. Please consult the various dictionaries for separate noun and adj. development. Also cf. the etymology for purple and purpurine.
The OED adds: 'the noun use was original, the adjectival use being later and derivative; but its alteration purple appears first in adjectival use, and is not attested as a noun until the end of the 14th cent.' ['purpure, adj. and n.' OED 2nd ed. (1989)]. See also Feulner, A. H. (2000), 314-16.
WF:
Etym Cog:
