Indigo

Indigo (pronounced in-di-goh)

(1) A blue dye obtained from various plants, especially of the genus Indigofera, or manufactured synthetically.

(2) A descriptor of color indigo, widely defined commercially and ranging from a deep violet blue to a dark, greyish blue (sometimes as "indigo blue").

(3) In technical use, as indigo blue (also casually referred to as indigotin or indigo), a dark-blue, water-insoluble, crystalline powder (C₁₆H₁₀N₂O₂), having a bronze-like luster, the essential coloring principle of which is contained along with other substances in the dye indigo and which can be produced synthetically.

(4) Any of numerous hairy plants belonging to the genus Indigofera, of the legume family, having pinnate leaves and clusters of usually red or purple flowers (the best-known of the plants including Amorpha (false indigo), Baptisia (wild indigo), and Psorothamnus and Dalea (indigo bush)).

(5) In zoology, as the Eastern indigo snake, the common name for the Drymarchon couperi.

(6) In zoology, as the indigobird (or indigo bird), any of various African passerine birds of the family Viduidae.

(7) A (rarely used) female given name.

1550s: The spelling change from indico to indigo happened in the 1550s, used originally in the sense of the “blue powder obtained from certain plants and used as a dye”.  Indigo was from the Spanish indico and the Portuguese endego (the Dutch indigo exclusively was from Portuguese), all from the Latin indicum (indigo), from the Ancient Greek ἰνδικόν (indikón) (Indian blue dye (literally “Indian substance”)), a neuter of indikos (Indian), from the Indic Ἰνδία (Indía).  Indic is a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European languages that includes Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, and many other languages of India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka; Indo-Aryan.  It replaced the late thirteenth century Middle English ynde, from the thirteenth century Old French inde (indigo; blue, violet), again from the Latin indicum; the earlier name in Mediterranean languages was annil or anil.  In the magical-realist novel Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982) by African American feminist Ntozake Shange (1948–2018), the name of one protagonist is Indigo and it continues to be used as a given name for females.  Indigo is a noun & adjective and indigotic is an adjective; the noun plural is indigos or indigoes.

Sir Issac Newton, light and the "two prism experiment" 

As used to refer to “the color of indigo”, use dates from the 1620s and in 1704 Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) adopted indigo as the name for the darkest of the two blues on his spectrum of the visible colors of light.  Newton identified seven colors in the spectrum of light (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) and although he was a great figure of science and the Enlightenment, he was also an alchemist and theologian who published notable works of Biblical scholarship, something which may account for the choice of seven, that number being of some significance in scripture.  By objective analysis, there are probably six colors in the spectrum, but Newton’s world view which attributed something mystical to the number demanded there be seven.  He decided in advance light was made of seven colors but his experimental method to vindicate this theory of differential refraction was sound.  The orthodox view of the time suggested a prism acted on any incident light to add colour; Newton wished to prove what was really happening was a process of separation refraction.  For this, he used two prisms.  The first produced the full spectrum of colors and from this Newton isolated narrow beams of light of a single colour, directing them at the second prism, finding that for all colors, there was no further change as the beam passed through the second prism: “When any one sort of Rays hath been well parted from those of other kinds, it hath afterwards obstinately retained its colour, not with standing my utmost endeavours to change it.”

Lindsay Lohan shopping at Indigo Seas, North Robertson Boulevard, Los Angeles, February 2009.  Most fashion houses would regard her dress’s blue as “too blue” to be within the indigo range but to illustrate how far (in commercial use) indigo can travel, some would call this "Spanish indigo" (Hex: #003C92; RGB: 0, 60, 148).

Darker than violet: Canva's example of the classic (#4b0082) indigo.

Although some use extends even to grey, generally, indigo is a range of bluish-purples between blue and violet in the color wheel and such is the reverence for Newton it’s considered still one of the seven spectral colors (indigo’s hex code is #4B0082),  In this, although it may visually be dubious, indigo has fared better than the unfortunate Pluto, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voting in 2006 to re-classify Pluto as a dwarf planet on the basis the icy orb failed to meet a set of criteria which the IAU claimed had been accepted for decades.  The IAU are a bunch of humorless cosmic clerks, something like the Vogons ("...not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous.") in Douglas Adams' (1952–2001) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979-1992) and, not affected by romantic tales, have refused to restore Pluto to planethood, leaving it desolate, lonely and cold; it's the solar system’s emo.  Indigo place on the spectrum seems however secure and according to Canva (an internet authority on color), it’s the color of devotion, wisdom, justice, and higher knowledge; tied to intuition and what is not seen; it is also considered spiritual.  More prosaically, Canva list indigo as hexadecimal #4b0082, with RGB values of Red: 29.4, Green: 0, Blue: 51 and CMYK values of Cyan: 0.42, Magenta: 1, Yellow: 0, Black (K):0.49.  The decimal value is 4915330.  It has a hue angle of 274.6 degrees, a saturation of 100% and a lightness of 25.5%. #4b0082 color hex could be obtained by blending #9600ff with #000005. Closest websafe color is: #330099.

Um Antropólogo em Martem, Portuguese edition of An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales (1995) by Dr Oliver Sacks.  The color used for the cover is “too purple” to be within the indigo range.  Noting the long uncertainty about just what the hue of indigo really was, the British neurologist and author Oliver Sacks (1933–2015) told an interviewer:

“I had been reading about the color indigo, how it had been introduced into the spectrum by Newton rather late, and it seemed no two people quite agreed as to what indigo was, and I thought I would like to have an experience of indigo.  And I built up a sort of pharmacological launch-pad with amphetamines and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as “acid”) and a little cannabis on top of that, and when I was really stoned I said, 'I want to see indigo now.'  And as if thrown by a paintbrush, a huge pear-shaped blob of the purest indigo appeared on the wall.  Again it had this luminous, numinous quality; I leaped toward it in a sort of ecstasy.  I thought, 'This is the color of heaven.' ... I thought maybe this is not a color which actually exists on the Earth, or maybe it used to exist or no longer exists. All this went through my mind in 4 or 5 seconds, and then the blob disappeared, giving me a strong sense of loss and heartbrokenness, and I was haunted a little bit when I came down, wondering whether indigo did exist in the real world.”

Piktochart’s spectrum of “indigo alternatives” compared with “true indigo” (right).  Internet color authority Piktochart lists indigo being associated with a variety of strong, evocative qualities including calm, serenity, trust, stability and mystery, adding that in some cultures it’s vested with symbolic meaning: In India there is historical significance derived from its use in traditional dyeing practices while in Japan, it’s linked with protection and healing.

#2b0082: A darker shade of indigo, providing a deeper, more intense version suitable for creating a dramatic effect. It evokes feelings of mystery and sophistication.

#350082: Slightly lighter than #2b0082, this shade offers a balance between deep and medium-dark, making it versatile for various design needs. It conveys a sense of depth and richness.

#400082: A medium-dark shade that maintains the richness of indigo while being slightly less intense. It balances intensity and calmness, evoking stability and reliability.

#560082: A medium shade that is vibrant and maintains the essence of Indigo. This shade can evoke feelings of creativity and inspiration.

#610082: A medium-light shade that is softer and can be used for a more subtle effect. It evokes feelings of calmness and relaxation.

#6c0082: A lighter shade that is still recognizable as indigo but offers a softer, more approachable feel. It evokes feelings of tranquility and peace.

IndiGo Airbus A320neo.  A low-cost operator, Indigo (InterGlobe Aviation Limited)) is India's largest carrier (by both fleet size and passenger numbers) and enjoys a market share close to two thirds of domestic air travel.

Rainbow

Rainbow (pronounced reyn-boh)

(1) An arc-shaped spectrum of color seen in the sky opposite the Sun, especially after rain, caused by the refraction and reflection of sunlight by droplets of water suspended in the air.  Secondary rainbows that are larger and paler sometimes appear within the primary arc with the colors reversed (red being inside). These result from two reflections and refractions of a light ray inside a droplet.  The colors of the rainbow are violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.  

(2) A similar bow of colors, especially one appearing in the spray of a waterfall or fountain.

(3) Any brightly multi-colored arrangement or display.

(4) A wide variety or range; gamut.

(5) A visionary goal, sometimes illusory (as in “chasing rainbows”).

(6) In DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) politics, as a modifier, of or relating to a political grouping together by several minorities, especially representatives from multiple identity groups, as those identifying variously by race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation.

(7) The flag of the LGBTQQIAAOP movement.

(8) In zoology, a descriptor used in some species (rainbow lorikeet, rainbow trout etc).

(9) In baseball jargon, a curveball, particularly a slow one.

(10) In the slang of poker (Texas hold 'em or Omaha hold 'em), a flop that contains three different suits.

(11) In the UK Girl Guide Association (as the Rainbow Guides), the faction containing the youngest group of girls (aged 5-7 years).

Pre 1000: From the Middle English reinbowe & reinboȝe, from the Old English reġnboga & rēnboga (rainbow), from the Proto-Germanic regnabugô (rainbow; literally rain +‎ bow (arch).  It was cognate with the Old Norse regnbogi, the West Frisian reinbôge, the Dutch regenboog, the German Regenbogen, the Danish regnbue, the Swedish regnbåge and the Icelandic regnbogi, all of which translated as “rainbow).  Rainbow is a noun, verb & adjective, rainbowing is a verb, rainbowed is a verb & adjective and rainbowlike & rainbowish are adjectives; the noun plural is rainbows.

A fire rainbow (circumhorizontal arc). 

A fire rainbow is an atmospheric optical phenomenon which occurs when (1) the Sun sits above 85^o and (2) ice crystals in high-altitude cirrus cloud formations exist in sufficient volume.  What that conjunction creates is a jagged, horizontal band of colors; it’s a rarely recoded spectacle although the number of photographs has increased since smartphones became ubiquitous.  In nephology (the branch of meteorology focused on clouds and cloud formation), the phenomenon is describes as a “circumhorizontal arc” but most folk prefer the more evocative “fire rainbow”.

The Rainbow Flag

The rainbow flag is more commonly known as the gay pride or LGBTQQIAAOP (usually truncated to LGBTQI+) pride flag although it has been co-opted for other purposes.  It was designed in 1978 by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker (1951-2017) using eight colors but has long been displayed with six stripes, red at the top as it appears in a natural rainbow.  The original colors were assigned thus:

Hot pink: Sex
Red: Life
Orange: Healing
Yellow: Sunlight
Green: Nature
Turquoise: Art
Indigo: Harmony
Violet: Spirit

Gilbert Baker's original eight-stripe design (1978, left), the version with hot pink deleted because of supply difficulties with the fabric (1978-1979, centre) and the six-stripe version (more or less) standardized since 1979 with royal blue substituted for indigo & turquoise (right).

However, for technical reasons, hot pink proved difficult to produce in volume and was deleted, the first commercial release having seven stripes but within a year it was again modified.  When hung vertically from the lamp posts of San Francisco's Market Street, the centre stripe was obscured by the post and changing to an even number of stripes was the easiest fix.  Thus emerged the final version: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.  On its 25^th anniversary in 2003, Gilbert Baker advocated the original design be restored but there’ was little support, the six-stripe standard clearly having reached critical mass although there have been one-off variations such as the addition of a black stripe symbolizing those community members lost to AIDS.  Aged 65, Mr Baker died in New York City on 31 March 2017.

Unfurling the flag: Emperor Dale on the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands.  The plaque in the sand contains the words of the kingdom's  declaration of independence.

In June 2004, activists from the G and L factions of the LGBTQQIAAOP collective sailed to Australia's almost uninhabited Coral Sea Islands Territory and proclaimed the now liberated lands independent, calling it the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands (GLK) with the rainbow flag its official standard.  It was a symbolic gesture with no validity in domestic or international law, the declaration in response to the Australian government's refusal to recognize same-sex marriage.  Undeterred by such tiresome details, the GLK immediately issued stamps, the official website listing tourism, fishing and philatelic sales as its only economic activities but that swimming, reef walking, lagoon snorkeling, bird-watching, seashell-collecting, and shipwreck-exploring were all GLK sanctioned non-economic activities.

Then Senator Eric Abetz.

Fearing it’s assertion of independence seemed not to be making much impression on the former colonial oppressor, on 13 September 2004 the GLK declared war on Australia.  Neither the declarations of statehood or war attracted much attention until February 2017 when, in a Senate estimates hearing on finance and public administration, Senator Eric Abetz (b 1958; senator for Tasmania (Liberal) 1994-2022) objected to the GLK's flag being hung in the Department of Finance’s building on the grounds that (1) government departments should take a neutral stand on political debates and (2) it was wrong to hang in government buildings the flag of an aggressive, hostile state (the GLK) which had declared war on Australia, the comparison presumably that the swastika wasn't hung in the White House or Downing Street during World War II (1939-1945).  The finance minister, Senator Mathias Cormann (b 1970; senator (Liberal) for Western Australia 2007-2020, minister for finance 2013-2020, Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 2021) agreed, assuring Senator Abetz he would ensure “…there are no flags of hostile nations anywhere in any government building.”

Stamps of the GLK authorized for issue by the edict of Emperor Dale Parker Anderson (b 1965).

Self-described as a "gay 22×-great-grandson of King Edward II (who was also born gay) and a direct descendant of all English kings & queens down to King Richard III", the emperor traces his family back to the fifteenth century marriage of the Earl of Huntington to Princess Catherine of England.  Despite the emperor's illustrious lineage from an age of absolutism and the divine right of kings, the GLK was established as a constitutional monarchy.  While the GLK never released details about the extent to which it could be considered a democracy with institutions such as a representative & responsible legislative assembly or an independent judiciary, the spirit seemed not to be despotic.  As a new state, the GLK might even have appeared with a system as genuinely novel as monarchical anarchy.    

Fobbed off.

While no governments granted recognition to the GLK as a sovereign state or established diplomatic relations, the chief of staff in Queensland's Department of Premier and Cabinet did in 2004 write to Emperor Dale Parker Anderson which suggested at least a tacit acknowledgment of the existence of the GLK which sat off Queensland's east coast.  There's no record of further communication between any level of Australian government and the GLK and nor does it appear the GLK made any attempt to secure even observer status in any international bodies.  Following the Australian people voting to make lawful same-sex marriage, the GLK was on 17 November 2017 dissolved and the state of war officially lapsed.  There were no casualties.

Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011) celebrates the happy news.

With the passage of the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act (2017), same-sex marriage was made lawful in Australia, the law coming into effect on 9 December 2017 with recognition simultaneously extended to same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.  With that, so concluded was one of the battles in the culture wars and it was notable for having been conducted in an untypically democratic way, the bill for the act introduced into parliament following a voluntary postal survey of all Australians.  When the votes were counted, the “Yes” case had prevailed by 61.6 to 38.4% on a turnout of 79.52% (12,727.920 of the 16,006,180 registered voters).  For a non-compulsory (and non-binding) plebiscite in a country with compulsory voting in regular elections, the turnout was thought high, especially given it required responders to seal the form in the supplied envelope and put it in a mailbox; for a significant part of the population, it was probably their first visit to a mailbox.  The novel idea of the a non-compulsory postal vote came from Malcolm Turnbull (b 1954; prime-minister of Australia 2015-2018) whose brief leadership was a rare interlude of political sanity for the Liberal Party which for much of the past two decades has been led by right-wing fanatics, religious weirdos, soft-drink salesmen and suspected Freemasons.  What Mr Turnbull wanted to avoid was the issue becoming something divisive between the Liberal Party’s factions and by off-loading the decision from the politicians to the people, the trick worked.  Amusingly, Mr Turnbull once delivered a speech in which he assured his audience there were: “no factions in the Liberal Party”; there was laughter.  Unfortunately (though understandably), the postal survey was modest in that it dealt only with same-sex relationships and didn’t extend to the objectum community, despite in theology and philosophy there being no history of objection to those wishing to marry objects.

Slender rainbow: Lindsay Lohan in a vintage Hervé Leger bandage dress at the Gansevoort Hotel, NYC, May 2007.

The distinctive colors of the rainbow flag and their simple, geometric deployment in stripes have made the flag a popular design.  At the human scale it can be applied to just about any article of clothing and worn as a political statement either of self-identity or an expression of inclusiveness and although the motif can exist at the level of fashion, regardless of intent, the design is now so vested with meaning that probably it's always interpreted as political.

The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, bathed in a rainbow flag projection during a vigil for victims of a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, June 2016.

Bold, horizontal stripes on a rectangle are perhaps uniquely suited to being deployed at scale and can thus be an aspect of representational architecture but even structures in the built environment with little relationship to the straight lines and right angles of the rectangle offer a suitable canvas.  Because the stripes can flow across and around even the most complex curves and there's no inherent hierarchy in the significance of the colors, if a treated shape emphasizes some and minimizes others, it matters not because the meaning is denoted by the whole.

Flying the rainbow flag: Members of Gay Men Fighting AIDS with their pink SPG, London for Pride Parade, 24 June 1995.

In service with both the British and Indian armies variously between 1965-2016, Vickers built 234 of the FV433 "Abbot" 105 mm Self-Propelled Gun (SPG) Field Artillery vehicles, using the existing FV430 platform with the addition of a fully-rotating turret.  The factory project code (and informal military designation) was “Abbot”, in the World War II (1939-1945) British tradition of using ecclesiastical titles for self-propelled artillery (following the Bishop, Deacon & Sexton).  The official model name was “L109” but to avoid confusion with the US-built 155 mm “M109” howitzer, 144 of which also entered British Army service in 1965, this rarely was used.  While the sight of a cluster of gay men atop a pink SPG might have frightened a few, the thought of one in the hands of a pack of lesbians truly is terrifying.

The progress flag

The concept of the rainbow flag continues to evolve.  Although the text string has been appended as the factions in sexual politics achieved critical mass in acceptability, while the "T" in LGBTQQIAAOP included the trans community, their flags and banners had been separate.  One suggestion to achieve more inclusive vexillological recognition was the "progress flag" (sometimes with initial capitals) which in its latest form is defined:

Red: Life
Orange: Healing
Yellow: New Ideas
Green: Prosperity
Blue: Serenity
Violet: Spirit
Black & Brown: People of Color
White, blue & pink: Trans people
Purple circle on yellow: Intersex

The intersex component was in 2021 interpolated by Valentino Vecchietti, an activist with the UK’s Intersex Equality Rights movement, building on the original progress flag designed in 2018 by US graphic artist Daniel Quasar who had added the five-striped chevron.  The element Vecchietti used was the intersex flag, first displayed in 2013 by Australian bioethicist Morgan Carpenter, the design rationale of which was the purple and yellow being positioned as a counterpoint to blue and pink, traditionally binary, gendered colors, the choice of the circle being to represent “…being unbroken, about being whole, symbolizing the right to make our own decisions about our own bodies.”  Carpenter has noted that statement is not an abstraction, non-consensual surgeries still being performed in many places.  The new design reflects recent internal LGBTQQIAAOP politics which have for some time focused on inclusivity underneath the broader LGBTQ+ umbrella, the feeling being intersex people have long been not only underrepresented but also visually undepicted in the Pride imagery ubiquitous in clothing, events and publicity materials.  The only community which continues to be excluded is the objectum (those for whom objects of romantic affection are objects) and never has the basis for this discrimination been explained. 

Purple

Purple (pronounced pur-puhl)

(1) Any color having components of both red and blue (often highly saturated), the darker the hue, the more likely to be described thus.

(2) In color theory, any non-spectral color on the line of purples on a color chromaticity diagram or a color wheel between violet and red.

(3) A dye or pigment producing such a colour

(4) Cloth or clothing of this hue, especially as formerly worn distinctively by persons of imperial, royal, or other high rank.

(5) In the Roman Catholic Church, a term at various times used to describe a monsignor, bishop or cardinal (or their office), now most associated with the rank, office or authority of a cardinal.

(6) Imperial, regal, or princely in rank or position.

(7) Any of several nymphalid butterflies including the red-spotted purple and the banded purple)

(8) Of or pertaining to the color purple (or certain things regarded as purple).

(9) In writing, showy or overwrought; exaggerated use of literary devices and effects; marked by excessively ornate rhetoric (purpureal).

(10) In language, profane or shocking; swearing.

(11) In modern politics, relating to or noting political or ideological diversity (in the US based on the blending of Democrat (blue) and Republican (red); in other places red & blue indicate different places on the political spectrum).

(12) In drug slang; the purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana (“purple haze” a popular name for commercially available weed in those places where such thing are lawful.  Purple haze was originally slang for LSD.

(13) In agriculture, earcockle, a disease of wheat.

(14) To make or become purple (or, in ecclesiastical use, to put on one’s purple vestments) .

Pre 1000: From the Middle English noun and adjective purple, purpel & purpur, from Old English purpuren & purpul, a dissimilation (first recorded in Northumbrian, in the Lindisfarne gospel) of purpure (purple dye, a purple garment), from the adjective purpuren (purple; dyed or colored purple), from purpura (a kind of shellfish, Any of various species of molluscs from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk; the dye; cloth so dyed; splendid attire generally), from the Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphýra or porphura) (the purple fish (Murex)), perhaps of Semitic origin.  Purpur continued as a parallel form until the fifteenth century and was maintained in the rules of heraldry until well into the nineteenth.  The verb purple (to tinge or stain with purple) was from the noun and emerged circa 1400.  The earlier form was purpured, a past-participle adjective.  The adjective purplish (somewhat purple, tending to purple) was from the noun and dates from the 1560s.  Purple is a noun, verb & adjective, purpled & purpling are verbs, purplish, purpler, purply & purplest are adjectives and purpleness is a noun; the noun plural is purples.

1974 Triumph Stag in magenta.  Some of the shades of brown, beige, orange and such used in the 1970s by British Leyland are not highly regarded but some were quite striking.

The rhetorical use in reference to “the splendid; the gaudy” began as a description of garments (classically imperial regalia) and since the mid-eighteenth century, as “purple prose” of writing.  In US political discourse and commentary, purple has since been used (often in graphical or cartographic form) to indicating the sectional or geographical spaces in which the increasing division of the country into red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) was less apparent.  That this came into widespread use only by around 2004 is because the use of red & blue by the US news media became (more or less) standardized only by the 1990s, use have begun circa 1980, something without any relationship to the linking of the colors (red=left; blue=right) traditional in other parts of the English-speaking world.  Other words used to describe purplish shades include lavender, mauve, amethyst, violet (with many sub-types) lilac, orchid, indigo, mulberry, plum, eggplant (aubergine seems rare but is used in commerce), fuchsia, heliotrope, periwinkle, purpureus & thistle and while many directly reference the flowers of plants, one curiosity is magenta: It was so called because the dye of that shade was created at the time of the Battle of Magenta (1559) in which French and Sardinian forces defeated those of the Austrians.  Purple is widely used in zoology and botany to create common names of species to some extent colored purple.

Purple patch: 1970 Dodge Challenger (440 Six-Pack) in Plum Crazy (left) and 1971 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda in In Violet) (clone; right).

Chrysler had some history in the coining of fanciful names for colors dating from the psychedelic era of the late 1960s when the choices included Plum Crazy, In-Violet, Tor Red, Sub Lime, Sassy Grass, Panther Pink, Moulin Rouge, Top Banana, Lemon Twist & Citron Yella.  Although it may be an industry myth, the story told was that Plum Crazy & In-Violet (lurid shades of purple) were late additions because the killjoy board refused to sign-off on Statutory Grape.  The lurid colors soon disappeared, not only because fashions change but because at the time they depended on the use of lead which was banned from paint in the early 1970s.  Not until the early twenty-first century did manufacturers perfect ways economically to replicate the earlier colors without using lead.

Salma Hayek in eye-catching purple,  Cannes Film Festival May 2015.

In idiomatic use, purple is popular.  One “born into the purple” was literally one of royal or exalted birth although it’s now often used even of those from families somewhere in the upper middle class.  The “purple death” was hospital slang for Spanish influenza and it was an allusion to the cyanosis which, because of the difficulty breathing, which would turn the skin purple.  In the early post-war years “purple death” was also used to describe a cheap Italian wine.   The phrase “once in a purple moon” was a variation of “once in a blue moon” and some dictionaries include an entry, apparently only for the purpose of assuring us that not only is it extinct but it may never have been in common use.  “Purple bacteria” (the form only ever used in the plural) are a proteobacteria which produce their own food using photosynthesis; they are all classed as purple, even though some are orange, red or brown.  In the analogue-era world of the phone phreaks (hackers who used the telephone networks for other than the intended purpose), a “purple box” was a device which added a hold facility to a telephone line.  It was an allusion to the general term “black box” used in engineering and electronics to describe small devices with specific purposes; not all “purple boxes” were actually purple.  “Purple gas” was a Canadian term which described the gas (motor spirit; petrol) colored with a purple dye to indicate it was sold subject to a lower rate of taxation and for use only in agriculture and not on public roads.  Anyone found using “purple gas” beyond a farm could be charged and many countries use similar methods though the dye is not always purple.  “Purple gold” was a synonym of amethyst gold (a brittle alloy of gold and aluminium, purple in colour).

1994 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6  (964) in Amethyst Metallic over Classic Gray.

A “purple passage” (also as “purple prose”) was any form of writing thought showy or overwrought, using an exaggerated array of literary devices and effects or marked by excessively ornate rhetoric.  It was a criticism but the later “purple patch” which describes any particular good period or performance (in any context) was wholly positive.  The “purple pill” was an advertising slogan used by a pharmaceutical company but unlike “little blue pill” (Viagra), it never entered the vernacular.  “Purple plague” has specific meanings in chemistry and electronics (relating to a chemical reaction which produces an undesirable purple compound) but a more amusing use is by Roman Catholic bishops noting a unwanted number of monsignors (who wear a purple sash) in their dioceses, sent there by the Vatican.  In US politics a “purple state” is a “swing state”, one which, depending on this and that, may vote either Republican (red) or Democrat (blue).  The “purple star” was the symbol worn by Jehovah's Witnesses in concentration camps in Nazi Germany (1933-1945), one of a number of color-coded patches, the best-known of which was the yellow Jewish star.  The Jehovah's Witnesses were an interesting case in that uniquely among the camp inmates, they could at any time leave if they were prepared to sign a declaration denying their religious beliefs.  In international air-traffic management, a “purple zone” (also “purple airway”) describes a route reserved for an aircraft on which a member of a royal family is flying.  In US military use, the “Purple Heart” dating from 1932, is still awarded to service personnel wounded in combat.  It’s origin was a decoration in purple cloth first awarded in 1782 which came to be known as the “wound stripe”.  In the mid 1960s, “purple haze” was slang for LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide, a psychedelic drug with a long history verging on academic respectability before becoming a popular hallucinogenic, users clipping the term to "acid"); it was later repurposed for various strains of weed.

Lindsay Lohan, admirer of all things purple.

The dye tyrian purple (all the evidence suggests it would now be thought a crimson), was produced around Tyre and was prized as dye for royal garments, hence the figurative use in the sixteenth century of purple for “imperial or regal power” (it was also the color of mourning or penitence among royalty or the upper reaches of the clergy).  Tyrian purple (also known as shellfish purple) was for long periods the most expensive substance in Antiquity (often (by weight) three times the value of gold, the exchange rate set by a Roman edict issued in 301 AD.  By the fifteenth century when the intricate process to extract and process the dye was lost, Tyrian purple had for millennia been variously a symbol of strength, sovereignty and money and its use had spread from the Classical world to Southern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia and was so associated with the civilization of the Phoenicians (the color named after their city-state Tyre) that they were known as the “purple people”.  What many didn’t know was that the dye associated with the illustrious came not from a gemstone or some vivid coral but from the slimy mucous of sea snails in the Murex family.  Debate continues about what must have been the process used in extraction and production although, given many factories and artisans were involved over the years, there may have been many variations of the method.

2001 Lotus Esprit V8 (twin-turbo) in Deep Purple Metallic over Magnolia leather.

It was in 1453 when the Byzantine capital Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) fell to the Ottomans that the knowledge of Tyrian purple was lost, something of a footnote to the end of the Eastern Roman Empire but still a loss.  Then, the infamously smelly dyeworks of the old city were the hub of purple production although, after a series of punitive taxes, the Catholic Church had lost control of the pigment which is the origin of the pope’s decision that red would become the new symbol of Christian power and this was adopted for the garb of cardinals; the story that the vivid red symbolized the blood cardinals mush be prepared to spill in the defense of their pope was just a cover story although one obviously approved of by the pontiff.

For their debut album Shades of Deep Purple (1968, left), the rock band Deep Purple used purple-themed album art and may have wished they'd stuck with that for their eponymous third album (1969).  The original cover (centre), featuring a fragment of one panel of the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490-1510) by Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450-1516), was declared "demonic" by the US distributors so an alternative needed hastily be arranged and whether because of the tight schedule or just wanting to play it safe, they reverted to purple (right).  They'd earlier had a similar difficulty with their US label when releasing their second album (The Book of Taliesyn (1968)), the objection that time that one song title (Wring That Neck) was "too violent" (it was an instrumental piece and the reference was to a technique used with the neck of a guitar but it was anyway changed to Hard Road).  Times have changed.

1979 Fiat 124 Sport Spider.

The purple 124 is a US model (identified by the "battering-ram" bumpers and fitted here with aftermarket Panasport wheels, roll bar and exhaust system) and the paint is a Ford part number called Ford Royal Plum; while not a factory shade, it really suits the car.  Resident in California's Napa Valley, rarely can there have been a better color & licence plate combo.

In literary theory, “to etiolate” a text is to remove or revise the “purple passages”.  In literature, purple passages are those sections of a text which are overly elaborate, flowery, or extravagant in style, often prioritizing ornate or decorative language and the use of needlessly long words, the meaning of which is often obscure.  Such writing is thought a literary self-indulgence or a mere pretentious display of knowledge; grandiose execution at the expense of clarity, the usual critique being “style over substance”.  The phrase is almost certainly derived from the historic use of the once rare and expensive purple dye being restricted (actually by statute or edict in some places) to royalty and even when availability became wider, the association with luxury & wealth continued.  The idea has long been a tool of critics, Roman lyric poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 BC) in his Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry, 19 BC) referring disapprovingly to the purpureus… pannus (a purple piece of cloth), the irrelevant insertion of a grandiloquent or melodramatic passage into a work.  Horace thought this disruptive at best and absurd at worst and “purple passages” continues to be used to describe writing which is needlessly ornate, florid and usually discordantly incongruous.  Used almost always pejoratively (although there do seem to be some admirers), comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) might have called such flourishes “formalism”.