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PURPLE

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 665 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PURPLE , a See also:

colour-name, now given to a shade varying between See also:crimson and See also:violet. Formerly it was used, as the origin of the name shows, of the deep crimson colour called in Latin See also:purpura, purpureus and in See also:Greek irop4iupa, 7rop4djxoS (from aoprOpecv, to grow dark, especially used of the See also:sea). This was properly the name of the shellfish (Purpura, Murex) which yielded the famous Tyrian dye, the particular See also:mark of the See also:dress of emperors, See also:kings, See also:chief magistrates and other dignitaries, whence " the purple " still signifies the See also:rank of emperors or kings. The See also:title of porphyrogenitus (Gr. rrop¢upo,rivvq-See also:ros) was See also:borne particularly by See also:Constantine VII., See also:Byzantine See also:emperor, but was also used generally of those See also:born of the Byzantine imperial See also:family. This title, generally translated " born in the purple," either refers to the purple See also:robes in which the imperial See also:children were wrapped at See also:birth, or to a chamber or See also:part of the imperial See also:palace, called the Porphyra (2r6p4upa), where the births took See also:place. Whether this Porphyra signified a chamber with purple hangings or lined with See also:porphyry is not known (see See also:Selden, Titles of See also:Honour, ed. 1672, p. 6o seq.).

End of Article: PURPLE

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