An African Daisy of vivid purple
'Purple' in
colloquial English usage is any shade of
color occurring between
blue and
red; this color is sometimes confused with the more narrowly-defined
spectral color violet.
In
color theory a ''Purple'' is defined as any non-
spectral color between violet and red.
Properties
On a
chromaticity diagram, the straight line connecting the extreme spectral
colors (
red and
violet) is known as the ''line of purples'' (or ''purple boundary''); it represents one limit of
human color perception. The color
magenta used in the
CMYK printing process is on the line of purples, but most people associate the term "''purple''" with a somewhat
bluer shade. Some common confusion exists concerning the color names "purple" and "violet". ''Purple'' is a mixture of red and blue light, whereas violet is a spectral color.
Purple versus violet
Main articles: Violet (color)
The
color terms 'purple' and '
violet' cause confusion for many people, and they are often used interchangeably in casual conversation. Technically, purple when used as a general term in its most general sense is the name of the color group of many related colors such as 'violet',
red-violet,
heliotrope,
lavender,
mauve,
magenta,
rose,
indigo and
lilac.
Indigo is a blue-purple; lilac is a light purple; mauve is between the two.
Crayola crayons have many shades of purple; see
List of Crayola crayon colors.
''Violet'' is a
spectral color of a (approximately 420–380nm) shorter wavelength than
blue, while purple is a combination of
red and
blue light. The purples are colors on the
color wheel that are not
spectral colors – ''purples'' are ''extraspectral color''. In fact, purple was not present on
Newton's color wheel (which went directly from violet to red), though it is present on modern ones. There is no such thing as the "wavelength of purple light"; it only exists as a combination. Also, violet light varies solely by wavelength, while purple varies by the proportion of red to blue light.
On the
CIE xy chromaticity diagram, violet is on the curved edge in the lower left, while purples are the straight line connecting the extreme colors red and violet.
One interesting
psychophysical feature of the two colors which can be used to separate them is their appearance with increase of light intensity. Violet, as light intensity increases, appears to take on a far more blue hue as a result of what is known as the
Bezold-Brücke shift. The same increase in blueness is not noted in purples.
Violet cannot be reproduced by a Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color system, and must be simulated by a mixture of red and blue (purple). The shade of violet simulated in the color box above is halfway between
magenta and
blue on the
color wheel.
Etymology
The word ''purple'' comes from the
Middle English word ''purple'' which originates from the
Latin ''purpura.'' This in turn is derived from the (
Koine Greek: πορφύρα, ''porphura'') 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''.
The first recorded use of the word ''purple'' in
English was in the year AD
975.
[1]
Historical development of purple
The color regarded as the standard for purple changed over the years, from ''Tyrian Purple'' in ancient times to ''Electric Purple'' today.
Imperial Purple (Tyrian Purple): Ancient Greece and Rome
Main articles: Tyrian purple
The actual color of
Tyrian purple, the original color purple from which the name purple is derived, is the color of a dye made from a
mollusk that, because of its incredible expense (many times more expensive than
gold), in
classical antiquity became a symbol of
royalty because only the very wealthy could afford it. Therefore, Tyrian purple is also called 'imperial purple'.
'Tyrian purple' may have been discovered as early as the time of the
Minoan civilization.
Alexander the Great (when giving imperial audiences as the
emperor of the
Macedonian Empire), the emperors of the
Seleucid Empire, and the
kings of
Ptolemaic Egypt wore Tyrian purple. The imperial robes of
Roman emperors were Tyrian purple trimmed in metallic
gold thread. The badge of office of a
Roman Senator was a stripe of Tyrian purple on their
white toga.
[2]Tyrian purple was continued in use by the emperors of the
Eastern Roman Empire until
its final collapse in
1453.
Royal Purple: Medieval Europe
This shade of ''purple'' is bluer than the ancient Tyrian purple.
In
medieval Europe,
blue dyes were rare and expensive
[3], so only the most wealthy or the
aristocracy could afford to wear them. (The
working class wore mainly
green and
brown.) Because of this (and also because Tyrian purple had gone out of use in western Europe after the collapse of the
Western Roman Empire in AD
476), Europeans' idea of purple shifted towards this more bluish purple known as 'royal purple' because of its similarity to the
royal blue worn by the aristocracy. This was the shade of purple worn by
kings in medieval Europe.
Generic Purple (Vulgar Purple): 1920s
In
1923, the
Welch's company began manufacturing
Concord grape jelly:
[1]. Since for both
children and the
working class a common food was
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (and Concord grape jelly was and is the cheapest and easiest jelly to mass produce), many people began to think of the dark violet color of grape jelly as purple because that was the most likely way they would encounter the color purple. This shade of purple is known as 'generic purple'. Sometimes it is called 'vulgar purple'.
Artists Pigment Purple (Red-Violet) (web color Medium Violet Red): 1930s
Main articles: Red-violet
Royal purple or generic purple is the common layman's idea of purple, but professional
artists, following
Munsell color system (introduced in
1905 and widely accepted by
1930), regard purple as being synonymous with the
red-violet color shown at right, in order to clearly distinguish purple from
violet and thus have access to a larger palette of colors. This 'red-violet' color, called 'artist's purple' by artists, is the pigment color that would be on a pigment color
color wheel between pigment
violet and pigment (process)
magenta. In the Munsell color system, this color at the maximum chroma of 12 is called ''Red-Purple''.
Artists pigments and colored
pencils labeled as ''purple'' are colored the ''red-violet'' color shown at right.
It seems appropriate that this color should be called "purple" by artists, since it is the closest of all the purples to the original Tyrian purple.
Electric Purple 2000s
Since using computers, it is possible to create a much brighter purple than with pigment, the equivalent color on a computer to the pigment color red-violet shown above would be 'electric purple', i.e. the much brighter purple you can see reproduced on the screen of an
electronic computer. This color is pure purple conceived as
computer artists conceive it, as the pure
chroma on the
computer screen color wheel halfway between electric
violet and electric
magenta. Thus, it is the purest and brightest purple that it is possible to display on a computer screen.
Computer web color purples
Purple (HTML/CSS color)
This ''purple'' used in
HTML and
CSS actually is deeper and has a more reddish hue (#800080) than the
X11 color purple shown below as ''purple'' (X11 color) (#A020F0), which is bluer and brighter.
This color may be called 'HTML/CSS purple'.
Purple (X11 color)
At right is displayed the color ''purple'', as defined in the
X11 color, which is a lot brighter and bluer than the
HTML purple shown above.
See the chart
Color names that clash between X11 and HTML/CSS in the X11 color names article to see those colors which are different in HTML and X11.
This color can be called 'X11 purple'.
Medium Purple (X11)
Displayed at right is the web color 'medium purple'.
This color is a medium shade of the bright ''X11 purple'' shown above.
Additional variations of purple
Orchid
Main articles: Orchid (color)
The color
orchid is a light shade of purple.
The name 'orchid' originates from the flowers of some species of the vast
orchid flower family, such as ''Laelia furfuracea'' and ''Ascocentrum pusillum'', which have petals of this color.
Heliotrope
Main articles: Heliotrope (color)
The color 'heliotrope' is a brilliant shade of purple.
Heliotrope is a
pink-purple
tint that is a representation of the
color of the
heliotrope flower.
Psychedelic Purple
The pure essence of purple was approximated in pigment in the late
1960s by mixing
fluorescent magenta and fluorescent
blue pigments together to make ''fluorescent purple'' to use in
psychedelic black light paintings. This shade of purple was very popular among the
hippies and it was the favorite color of
Jimi Hendrix and therefore it is called 'psychedelic purple'. It is shaded somewhat more toward the magenta than electric purple and it is displayed in the color box at right.
In the
1980s there was a ''Jimi Hendrix Museum'' in a
Victorian house on the east side of Central Ave. one half block south of Haight Street in the
Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of
San Francisco which was painted this color.
Deep Purple
The color 'deep purple' is shown at right.
The color ''deep purple'' bears the same relationship to ''electric purple'' as the color ''deep magenta'' does to ''electric magenta''.
Internet Purple
'Internet purple' is the shade of purple that was chosen for display on the ''all purple website''.
[5].
Mulberry
The color 'mulberry' is displayed at right.
This color is a representation of the color of
mulberry jam or
pie.
This was a
Crayola crayon color from
1958 to
2003.
The first recorded use of ''Mulberry'' as a color name in
English was in
1776.
[6]
Aubergine (web color Eggplant)
Main articles: Eggplant (color)
The color 'aubergine' is shown at right. This is a color popular among
graphic designers in
Europe.
This color is identical to the web color [''red-violet'']
eggplant. "
Eggplant" and "aubergine" are the names used in the US and UK respectively for the same vegetable. This color is the color of the
French variety of eggplant.
Pansy Purple
Purple Pansy
The
pansy flower has varieties that exhibit three different colors: pansy (a deep shade of violet), pansy pink, and 'pansy purple'.
The first recorded use of ''Pansy Purple'' as a color name in
English was in
1814.
[7]
Tokyo Purple
Flag of Tokyo.
'Tokyo purple' is the color of the
flag of the
prefecture of
Tokyo in the
Kantō region of
Japan. The color purple has been associated with Tokyo (formerly called Edo) since ancient times.
Purple in human culture
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.
[8]
Billiard Games
★ Purple is the color of the ball in
Snooker Plus with a 10-point value.
★ In the game of
pool, purple is the color of the 4-solid and the 12-striped balls.
Broadcasting
★ Purple is generally used to denote a digital video signal in broadcast engineering.
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.
Cannabis
★ When
sensimilla marijuana first became available in the early
1970s, it was called ''purple seedless''.
[9]
Comedy
★
The Purple Onion is a celebrated
comedy club in the
North Beach area of
San Francisco, California.
[10]
Dance
★ The ''Purple Moon Dance Project'' is a
dance group in San Francisco.
[11]
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.
History
★ Purple has often symbolized
royalty, dating back to
Roman times, when clothing dyed with
Tyrian purple was limited to the upper classes due to the rarity (and thus price) of the dye. The color, which was closer to a deep
crimson/
red-violet color (shown above) than to the modern idea of purple, was the favored color of many
kings and queens.
★ 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).
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).
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.
[12]
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.
Music
★
Deep Purple is a popular
rock band.
[13]
★
"Deep Purple" (song) is also the name of a popular song that was the favorite song of
Babe Ruth.
★ Purple are a British
tribute band to Deep Purple.
★
The Mulberry Purple is a popular
Modern Rock band.
★ "
Purple People Eater" was one of the biggest rock and roll hits of
1958.
[14]
★ "
Purple Haze" is one of the most popular songs by
Jimi Hendrix.
[15]
★ "Tha Purple" is a song performed by the duo Pablo and Victor.
★ 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.
[16]
★ "Start Wearing Purple" is a song by
Gogol Bordello.
★
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. In this case, purple refers to a particular quality of
marijuana.
★ ''
Purple'' is a
1994 album by the band
Stone Temple Pilots.
★ ''Purple'' is also the name of a track by rap artist
Nas.
★ ''Purple Music, Inc'' is a company in
Switzerland that produces
house music.
[17]
★ 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.
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.
[18]
Mysticism
★ People with purple
auras are said to have a love of ritual and ceremony.
[19]
=
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)
[20]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''.
[21]
Politics
★ In 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 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).
★ Purple (or
white) is often used to symbolize
royalists.
Psychedelic Drugs
★
Augustus Owsley Stanley III began to manufacture
LSD in
Los Angeles in
1965 when it was still legal. Owsley's LSD came in 270 microgram tablets of purple (''Purple Haze'') and white (''White Lightning'').
[22] [23]
Psychology
★ The term
porphyrophobia means an irrational fear of the color purple.
Religion
★ In Christianity purple represents the
deadly sin of
Pride.
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.
★ 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]''
Sacred Scriptures
★ In the Byzantine Empire,
Gospel manuscripts were written in gold lettering on
parchment that was colored Tyrian purple.
[24]
Science Fiction
★ In the
Star Trek universe,
Klingons have purple
blood.
[25]
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]
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".
See also
★
List of colors
★
Purpure
★
Pink
★
Porphyrophobia
References
1. Oxford English Dictionary, second edition
2. Tyrian Purple in Ancient Rome:
3. Varichon, Anne ''Colors:What They Mean and How to Make Them'' New York:2006 Abrams Page 161
4. W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords
5. The All Purple Website "purple.com":
6. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 199; Color Sample of Mulberry: Page 119 Plate 48 Color Sample E9
7. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 201; Color Sample of Pansy Purple: Page 131 Plate 54 Color Sample L8
8. Barnett, Lincoln and the editorial staff of Life ''The World We Live In'' New York:1955--Simon and Schuster--Page 284
9. Phillips, Julia ''You’ll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again'' (The Truth About Hollywood) New York:1991 Random House Page 371
10. Home page for The Purple Onion:
11. Purple Moon Dance Project website:
12. Early Earth Was Purple, Study Suggests:
13. Official Deep Purple website
14. Lyrics and audio recording of the song Purple People Eater:
15. Lyrics to the Jimi Hendrix song Purple Haze:
16. Purple website for Prince fans:
17. Purple Music, Inc (Producers of House Music):
18. The Purple Pinot Maker:
19. Swami Panchadasi ''The Human Aura: Astral Colors and Thought Forms'' Des Plaines, Illinois, USA:1912--Yogi Publications Society Page 37
20. ''Leary’s 8 Calibre Brain'' Psychic Magazine April 1976
21. A black and white copy of the chart may be found at the front of the following book: Leary, Timothy - "Info-Psychology", New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-105-6
22. Web Discussion Group about Purple Haze:
23. High Times article , January 1977, by Bruce Eisner
24. Varichon, Anne ''Colors:What They Mean and How to Make Them'' New York:2006 Abrams Page 140 – This information is in the caption of a color illustration showing an 8th Century manuscript page of the Gospel of Luke written in gold on Tyrian purple parchment.
25. Berman, Rick and Braga, Brannan (Creators of '') editors ''Glass Empires'' (Three Tales of the Mirror Universe--''Age of the Empress'' by Karen Ward and Kevin Dilmore [ Story by Mike Sussman ]; ''Sorrows of Empire'' by David Mack; ''The Worst of Both Worlds'' by Greg Cox) New York:2007 Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. (Trade Paperback) Page 363
26. Yahoo Gay Pride Avatars:
27. ''San Francisco Frontiers [Biweekly Gay] Newsmagazine'' Volume 15, Issue 4 June 20, 1996 Gay Pride Issue Pages 38-39 ''Can You Remember When?'' ''The List'' --List of Every Gay Bar that Ever Existed in San Francisco
Further reading
★ "The perception of color", from Schiffman, H.R. (1990) ''Sensation and perception: An integrated approach'' (3rd edition). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
External links
★
All About The Color Purple
★
Hex Mixer Purple Color Chart
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