Lavender, plum, lilac, orchid, mulberry, amethyst, violet, grape, magenta … no matter your favorite shade, they all add up to purple! This week, Tidbits reminds us of some of our favorite things about this vibrant color.
• On the visible spectrum of light, actual purple doesn’t exist. The shortest wavelength on the spectrum is actually violet, which, although considered a shade of purple, in reality has more blue, while purple has more red. Purple doesn’t have its own wavelength, but is a mixture of others, most often blue and red.
- The color purple has long been associated with royalty, a connection that can be traced back to ancient times. Purple dye was rare and it was costly, and only royalty had the funds to afford it. The dye came from the mucus of the spiny murex sea snail, and was first produced around 1200 B.C. in Tyre, a city in Phoenicia. The extraction process was a long, difficult, smelly, and expensive one, with thousands of snails needed to produce a single ounce of dye.
- Archaeological expeditions have uncovered mountains of empty snail shells in Tyre and nearby Sidon. Because the Latin name of the murex snail is purpura, that word became the color purple. The royals loved the color so much, in some places, it was made illegal for any non-royalty person to wear. Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England from 1558 to 1603, forbade anyone outside of her family to wear purple clothing, and Roman emperors even punished offenders with death!
• At her 1953 coronation, Queen Elizabeth II of England wore the Purple Imperial Robe of Estate, a garment used in all British monarch coronations. The monarch dons the robe right after being crowned. Some monarchs reuse the robes of their ancestors, but most have a new one created using silk, gold threads, pearls, and crystals. Elizabeth’s robe of purple velvet and ermine fur and measured 21 feet in length and weighed 15 lbs. Her son, King Charles III chose to wear his great-grandfather’s Imperial Robe for his coronation.
- Purple dye became much more affordable for the commoners in 1856 when an 18-year-old British chemist, William Henry Perkin, accidentally discovered the process of producing synthetic dye while experimenting with making synthetic quinine to treat malaria. His testing resulted in a purple shade he called mauveine, which was shortened to mauve, named for the mallow flower of the same color. Perkins perfected the process and built a factory, where he produced the dye by the ton. Mauve became very fashionable, made so even more by Queen Victoria’s appearance in a mauve silk gown at the 1862 Royal Exhibition.
- Up until 1464, Roman Catholic cardinals wore Tyrian purple robes. That year, Pope Paul II decreed that cardinals would wear scarlet robes going forward due to the diminishing supply of murex sea snail shells. The red was a symbol of the blood of the martyrs of the Church.
- Purple is the least popular of colors for cars, accounting for just 0.1% of all cars. What’s the most popular? Nationwide, white is the favorite, with about 26% of registered cars. Black is in second place at 22%.
• Color psychology is a field that claims that colors can have an impact on our moods and behaviors. Purple is often associated with wisdom and enlightenment, creativity and imagination, and inspiration and spirituality. In Japan, purple is indicative of wealth and position, while in parts of Europe, the color is linked to death and mourning. Light purples denote light-hearted, romantic energies, with darker ones representing sadness or frustration. In the world of romance, purple is indicative of passion and a deep connection.
- The Purple Heart is America’s oldest military award, and is award to those wounded or killed while serving in the U.S. military. It was originally called the Badge of Military Merit, created by George Washington in 1782 when he was commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Washington’s intent was to give to soldiers for “commendable action.” The Badge was made of a heart of purple cloth. In 1931, the award was redesigned to include a bust and profile of George Washington, a design that was first issued on the 200th anniversary of his birth, February 22, 1932.
- Can you think of any words that rhyme with purple? Some say there aren’t any, but the Merriam-Webster Dictionary disputes that claim. That book features two words, curple and hirple. A curple is related to a horse, with one definition meaning the horse’s rump and another referring to a strap under the horse’s saddle that stops the saddle from moving forward. To hirple is simply to walk with a limp. The Urban Dictionary, which lists slang and cultural phrases, includes the word turple, which describes an annoying, aggressive, or cocky person.
- “Purple Day” is a celebration held in March every year, but it’s not to honor the actual color. It’s a day for spreading awareness of epilepsy and donating to epilepsy foundations. A Canadian 8-year-old named Cassidy Megan was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 7, and at 8, in the midst of her struggles, established Purple Day to help people understand the condition. More than 100 countries now celebrate Purple Day on March 26, a day when people are encouraged to wear the color.
- Foods that are naturally purple, such as grapes, eggplant, purple cabbage, and certain berries, are on the list of healthy foods. This is due from a compound in them known as anthocyanins, flavonoids that are rich in antioxidants that defend the body against harmful molecules.
- Although we think of carrots as orange vegetables, in ancient Persia, most carrots were purple and were used not only as a food but also as a medicinal herb. In the 1500s, the Dutch began cross-pollination to create hybrids that resulted in a more pest-resistant orange variety, which actually tasted better.
- The Purple K fire extinguisher is specifically designed for a particular use. These extinguishers are used for Class B fires, which are flammable liquid and gas fires, involving gasoline, propane, and solvents, as well as Class C fires, electrical equipment fires. The active ingredient that combats the fire is potassium bicarbonate, with the “K” in the name representing potassium on the periodic table of the elements. The powdered particles of potassium bicarbonate decompose in extreme heat, releasing carbon dioxide and water vapor.
- There are several peaks known as Purple Mountain in the United States, including the 8,392-foot-high peak in Wyoming in Yellowstone National Park. Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado have also named mountains after this color.
