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Purple

The word Purple has an interesting origin.
Check it out :smile:

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144 Comments and 25 threads

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  1. John says: 82

    Marina, Bourbon and purple any relation? :neutral: :neutral:

    • leonard says: 82.1

      John: Bourbon, yankee style has rye blended of grains for mash. The rye grain like its cousin “wild rye” or better known as “quack-Grass” is purple the c0lor, before showing it LSD things….

      Good JOB, if you got one!1

  2. John says: 81

    word request: squirrel eyes

  3. leonard says: 80

    another random lesson and comment–love perrr-ple–brillance in authority and what about purple as an adjective [3b]?—marked by profanity—be good, Word request of an Etruscan-catamite, thank you so much, leonard

  4. tedt says: 79

    Crazy picture.

    Nice story.

  5. aeon siege says: 78

    And what about the synonym violet? It has to do something with purple or violent?

  6. sfisher71 says: 77

    Since no one has responded, I can answer about orange. The fruit came first; it originated in Persia, where the name of the fruit is naranj. It was introduced to Europe through North Africa and Spain, which is why the Spanish word for the fruit is naranja. Tangerines are small relatives of the orange from the Moroccan city of Tangiers. The colors were adopted from their similarity to what was then a new, unusual fruit.

    Linguistically speaking, languages tend to start with a fairly small number of colors — typically black, white, and red — and then add new color names as the culture’s need for discrete color words becomes more sophisticated. Often, color names are adapted from an object which is either introduced into the culture (as with orange), or which has significance for the culture (as with purple). Others: maroon, which comes from the French word marron, or chestnut; burgundy, from the French wine-growing region (though only the red wine is honored by the name, not the great whites of Macon, Chablis and Montrachet); and, to tie it in with our homework, violet, from the flower.

  7. r2luix says: 76

    purple nurple i love marina

  8. fafhrd says: 75

    I am interested in the prefex “poly” and specifically the word “polymath”.

    Also the word “trope” has a standard meaning as motif, but I seem to remember other definitions and meanings… are they related?

  9. sagredo says: 74

    Hi Marina,

    As this is March Madness, I think it is a perfect time for this word. Recently, some of the bball players for UCLA have been playing with a ‘monkey on their backs.’ Where does this term come from? And does it relate at all with the term ‘chip on your shoulder?’

  10. I’ve always wanted to know why they call something pretty new or lightly used ‘mint condition’ Marina, could you please help me out?

    -Robyn :mrgreen:

  11. Hello Marina,
    I was wondering if you could explain the full origin of “Valhöll” which is old Norse. I have seen it sometimes written incorrectly in English as “Valhalla”. If you could explain it I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

    Bjørge Zagros Rysstad.

  12. clarsct says: 71

    So…

    What rhymes with purple?

  13. mileycyrus says: 70

    Marina! On “my g4 accperince” what does the word fuccasett mean?

  14. mq says: 69

    Hey Marina! Could you please find the origin of the word “marimba”? I am a percussionist and it would be really cool to know! Thanks for all you do!

  15. I was wondering if you could tell us the origin of the words “Milky Way” when referring to the galaxy we live in. I was watching a show on Supermassive Blackholes which stated that every galaxy, including our own, has a SM blackhole. interesting….

  16. solook says: 67

    Bebichka, give me a SOLO word, please! :wink:

  17. politricks5 says: 66

    Yo HotforWords,
    You need another V-word, so how about Voodoo, or Vendetta, or VIRUS?
    Hmmm, L-words: Lucid and Lampoon.

    or Bees! BZZZZZZZZZZ! zzzz!
    I saw an angelina jolie movie and it looks like Bees stung her in the mouth.

    So if you know anyone that wants lips like hers, send them to me. I can put gloves on and sting ‘em in the mouth with some bees. 5 bucks.

  18. jeffsstress says: 65

    I am new and honestly HAPPY that if found this site :grin: . I enjoy learning about words and crazy information that I may never use but ya never know do ya? I am dismayed that Marina only got #6 on G4’s hottest girls on the web. Marina is by far “THE HOTTEST”. Not because she is gorgeous, but because you usually don’t get brains AND beauty. Way to go girl and keep it up!

  19. azchef83 says: 64

    I would like to know the why the word English is used to describe the spin on a cue ball as well as other spherical objects.

  20. buzzword says: 63

    My wife’s family uses the word, “klinking” as a term for finger splashing someone with water from the kitchen sink. I asked the siblings (6) about this and they all thought it was a real word. I have since discovered that they have a lot of made up words, and for the most part they don’t realize it. They also use several words incorrectly and frequently. They use the word blasé in the same way as blah. I frequently point these actions out to them. Having an anthropologist as an in-law must be aggravating. After questioning I have concluded that the “klinking” word originated from very early on and describes the klinking sound made by their mothers rings in the sink as she shook the water off her hands. Wondering if anyone else has words unique to their family. Also, here is a link to a word nerd radio show presenting this subject of familial word origins. Oh, if my mother in-law reads this, I love your family, and stop praying for me, I’m not becoming catholic.

  21. joncon56 says: 62

    Hi Marina,

    Great job as always. I especially enjoy your bloopers. Hey, there’s a word. I would like to suggest the word, “chuck hole” for the holes formed from wear and tear in asphalt roads. I must say, I use much more colorful language to describe these devils as I swerve my car daily to avoid being eaten by one. I also had a sixth grade teacher that looked very much like you. My friend Jack and I were teacher’s pets and had our desks on either side of hers. It was terrible, but we loved it!

    Take care,

    Jonathan
    Mesa, Az

  22. whatamack says: 61

    “Yes, the new student…WhataMack? What’s your question?”

    “Thank you, Ms. Hotforwords. Can you tell us the origin of ‘ubiquitous’? I’ve always loved the sound of it, and it’s become my favorite word.”

  23. snoman says: 60

    Hello my trusty teacher. Great video. I want to request a word that people use for many different things. “Pussy”. Now a days people use it for wimp, cat, or vagina. Why? Which one of these definitions did it start out as? Are there any more definitions for pussy?

  24. sinja says: 58

    Hi my dear teacher,

    I would like to know the origin of the word ” MAYDAY” :wink:

  25. HEY CAN YOU TELL ME THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD BLOWJOB :?: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :grin:

  26. prospero811 says: 56

    Hi, Marina,

    Great video.

    For my homework – synonyms of purple include: amethyst, bluish red, heliotrope, lavender, lilac, magenta, mauve, mulberry, orchid, perse, plum, pomegranate, reddish blue, violaceous, violet, wine.

    It is said that the demand for this dye made their business interests expand and they needed a written system of record keeping. The then-existing hieroglyphics were too clumsy for them, so they wound up inventing the first “modern” alphabet.

    Thanks again, Marina, for swelling my, um, brain, with more knowledge!

    Eric

  27. madmick82 says: 55

    G’day

    Purple gave me an idea, I would like to know why the fruit Orange is called after its colour, and why isnt other fruits like bananna called yellow and apples called reds?

    xoxo

  28. nighteye says: 54

    Well, after that display, I have to ask: where does the word “Kiss” originate from?
    :mrgreen:

  29. seraphim1x2 says: 53

    Hey Teach,
    This is a 2 part question, as they might explain each other or not. Why do people DRIVE in a “Parkway” and PARK in a “Driveway”?

  30. Hello Marina ,
    I am a gentleman from HK.
    And i wanna know more the words “gentleman” and “sensitive”
    May I ??

  31. muggins says: 51

    What is pronunciation of the word “forte” :?:

  32. apollokid36 says: 50

    If my english teacher was as hot as you marina, I would have paid attention in class more often :wink: lol but I want to know what “cuban linx” means. One of my favorite lyricist (Raekwon) named his first album “Only Built For Cuban Linx” and to this day, I still don’t have an idea what he means by that. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

  33. billcosby23 says: 49

    I have always been curious about the word -bojangle- I think it means to stall or procrastinate, but it is also a tasty restaurant. Hope you chose my word Thanks :wink:

  34. xcaliber36 says: 48

    I really enjoy watching your videos. Thank you for expanding my knowledge in a truly unique way. I have a word for you that I am curious to know the origin of. That is to say, if it has an interesting enough one outside of the medical meaning. The longest word in the English language.

    Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

    I believe that it is a lung disease caused by volcanic ash. Also, who comes up with these really long names?

  35. Wow, that was intresting.
    Hmm…. i was wondering.
    Where did the word ” Soup” come from?

  36. adral says: 46

    I want to know where the phrase “Holy Cow” came from :grin:

  37. My question is for the word rapsberry… and why do we pronounce it razberry. just drinking some juice and the question came up. Thanks for reading my post.

    Meecakipete

  38. chrisfotog says: 44

    heres a request for you teacher,
    me and my friends always make fun and use the word “patty-slap”
    if you could define the word and give us a answer that would be great and my friends and me would enjoy to watch what the definition is
    thanks ,ill be waiting for the vid. :smile:

  39. hey . that really is a rather interesting origin .
    but i was just wondering the origin of the word ‘violet’ .
    i mean i believe it is synonymous to ‘purple’ and i was just wondering if their origins as words were connected at all ?

  40. I think you should do the words heaven and hell… :twisted:

  41. labbatt78 says: 41

    There are at least a few characters I know that are purple are Barney the dinosaur, Grunk from Justice Friends and Grape Ape. 2 bad it’s not my favorite color. Blue is my most favorite. Speaking of colors are you going to wear green tomorrow since it’s St. Patrick’s day? :smile:

  42. hueylong says: 39

    Great show — I love history and language and you combine them so well.

    Since those of us in the States are approaching Tax Day, how about a show on the words “tax” and “tariff?”

  43. julesthe says: 38

    How about “dictionary”?

  44. In the Pink Darlin’.
    Wut aboot the word “PLEB?”

  45. I digg that BDU cap! Supa Sexy Marina!

  46. Hello my dear teacher,
    what is the origin of the word placebo?

  47. tdwnarrows says: 33

    Hello Marina.Another great video.5 stars…but your hat was shadowing your beutiful eyes.

  48. Whaps says: 32

    What is the origin of the St. Patrick’s Day holiday? Just curious because I have been dealing with a horrible hangover from celebrating it.

    thanks!

  49. infovore says: 31

    Hi all.

    I always watch HFW on my iPod Nano3G, but after updating iTunes to the latest version (7.6.1 for Windows) i’m unable to load the episodes on the iPod, the program complains about video format compatibility. Are there other iTunes subscribers experiencing this problem?

    BTW Thanks Marina for your great Work!

    Regards

    infovore

  50. jschwegler says: 30

    Wonderful video, Marina!

    I’d really like to see a history of the word “bug”, as it’s used in the computer industry as a problem to be corrected. Would you consider doing that word sometime soon?

  51. politricks5 says: 28

    mwah! mwah! No, one only! mwah!
    hahaha, you’re crazy! :wink:
    Ok, where does the phrase “Jack of all trades” come from?
    I can only think of ONE trade that has Jack in it.. Lumberjack.
    and maybe CrackerJack, the snack.. Unless the snack was named after a crackhead named Jack, Crack Jack.
    mon dieu.
    Purple, Violet, Mauve, Indigo, Lavendar (mmmm, lavendar vanilla yummy), Plum, Lilac, Poop.

    Were the Phoenicians the Traders? They gave us Capitalism.

  52. eddymark40 says: 27

    hello marina!
    Love your videos!I look forword to watching them.I too would like to request a saying- how did the origin of the fraze ”40 winks” come from?I know it refers to sleeping but why?Hope to see you doing a video about my word. thank you

  53. jsmooth5atl says: 26

    I would like to suggest the word “blue” because its my favorite color. I wonder why blue is associated with boys and girls with pink? I voted for a big book with pictures because we can always suggest words that aren’t covered in the book. :mrgreen:

  54. sulasierry says: 25

    hi marina,

    im also facsinated on how words come to be… im really glad i stumbled upon your video.. made my day… hmmm i really like this word Pnuemonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis… because its long its cool.. well i know what it means but i thought it would be fun to do a video on this and to share it to your other students… it is the longest word in the oxford dictionary.. thanks

  55. northnurse says: 24

    Hi Marina!
    I’m one of your growing number of UK fans and I’ve been doing my little best to spread the word about HotforWords. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to know the origin of the word Khaki

    Thank you

  56. joey007g says: 23

    i would like to know the origin of the word taint

  57. surplu says: 22

    It was just two days ago when me and a friend was wondering where the word “bum” came from.

    And what would be better than asking the almighty HotForWords herself to tell us all… :wink: .

  58. shane says: 21

    I assume Lavender is one of those derivitives of purple.

    By the way, I saw something on TV the other day about the word Hillbilly, and that it is thought that it started somewhere in the American Ozark mountains, but did not dig into it anyfurthir than that. Any idea where that term started?

    One more too… mystified. Does it have anything to do with mist?

    • I was born in the Ozarks. I don’t think it has been proven but popular belief is that Ozarks comes from the French, “aux arcs.” Could very well be. There are a number of towns in Missouri with French names, especially in the eastern region south of St Louis (itself named after Louis IX of France). By the way, the Ozarks are the oldest mountains in the United States. Even older than Granny Clampett…..

  59. How about ‘Orange’?
    Which came first, the fruit or the color?

    Cheers

    • Oh, I think the fruit and the color came long after the principality, which was formed in 1163 when Emperor Frederick I granted the former County of Orange full independence within the Holy Roman Empire. (Okay, I’m kidding, but I thought that this was a juicy bit of history for you.)

  60. mileycyrus says: 19

    —————————What`s UP?—————————-

  61. May you please make a video on the word horny. Please and thank you. Berrie Blitz16.

  62. kinkoyaburi says: 17

    Where does the phrase “sperm whale” comes from. :grin: What’s the mystery behind this?

  63. that was interesting. i thought purple came from some sort of dye mix…

    i would like to know where the phrase “Easy Peasy” came from. does it have anything to with piece’s of something or peace?

  64. will u do ashow on stripping please and thank you :smile:

  65. rhoadess says: 14

    This should earn those extra kisses :razz:

    As well as Tyrian purple, the Phoenicians also made a purple-blue indigo dye, referred to as royal blue or hyacinth purple, which was made from a closely-related species of marine snail. Han purple is a type of artificial pigment found in China between 500 B.C. and 220 A.D. There is disagreement over exactly which shades can be described as purple, some people preferring more precise terms such as magenta or heliotrope for particular shades. A difference in retinal sensitivity to red and blue light between individuals can cause further disagreement. In color theory a ‘purple’ is defined as any non-spectral color between violet and red. Royal Purple was the color of your bikini top :smile: electric purple, is precisely halfway between violet and magenta and thus fits the artistic definition of purple.

    In art, purple is the color on the color wheel between magenta and violet and its tints and shades.

    In Biblical Hebrew, which like Phoenician is a dialect of Canaanite, the Tyrian purple-red dye extracted from the Murex brandaris is known as shani שָׁנִי [ʃɔni], but usually translated as ’scarlet’.

    The color orchid is a light shade of purple.
    The color heliotrope is a brilliant shade of 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
    he color mulberry is also a shade of purple.
    The pansy flower has varieties that exhibit three different colors: pansy (a deep shade of violet), pansy pink, and pansy purple.
    Tokyo purple is the color of the flag of the prefecture of Tokyo in the Kanto region of Japan. This shade of dark purple has been associated with Tokyo (formerly called Edo) since ancient times.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_purple
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple

  66. alruiz68 says: 13

    Beauty Lady, I really would like to know the origin of “Piece of Cake”, why that means something easy to do. : :lol:

  67. alx says: 12

    yay!

    who was the one that voted for the regular book, too? :D D

  68. DO GREEN FOR TOMORROW!! Or Clover, or Shamrock! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

  69. skycarl says: 9

    ps,,,,, for St. Paddy’s day :cool:

  70. skycarl says: 8

    Как о цветном зеленом преподавателе?

    Hope this gets your attention. Have a great day.

    • hitman says: 8.1

      I recommend you to write to her in English, she doesn’t answer to Russian comments, in some ways she denies his past or culture…but…whatever…

      • alx says: 8.1.1

        it’s just appropriate to talk english on here. this ain’t no russian site. she doesn’t do her videos in russian either.

      • buzzword says: 8.1.2

        not to mention english speakers rule the world and everyone must do as we say. Capiche?

      • She denies HIS past????? Do you know something about Marina that we don’t??? :lol:

      • Marina says: 8.1.4

        hitman.. I don’t deny my past.. I just like leaving some things to mystery… but almost all information about me can be found in the various radio and TV interviews on the site.

        It’s just fun to keep people guessing sometimes :-)

      • I think Marina’s right. People have a right to their privacy. It wouldn’t be right if she responded in a way that not all her fans could understand. Besides, Russia has it’s own culture. I dated a Russian woman for awhile, and believe me, there are somethings better left unsaid. I’ve also dated 9’s and 10’s, models and celebs, and they prefer privacy to the nth. It all goes along with being cautious. Besides, secrecy can be sexy.

        Though neither here nor there, always remember:
        -Just because you don’t understand Russian, doesn’t mean the Russian you’re talking about doesn’t understand English.

      • p.s. Since Skycarl was asking about the meaning of the green:

        Good green

        Green light – go, permission to proceed (with a task)
        The green room – in theater or televisions it is the room where performers and guests go to relax
        Green thumb – good with plants
        Greenback – US dollar bill, money
        Greener pastures – something newer or better (or perceived to be better), such as a new job

        Bad green
        Green-eyed monster – jealosy
        Green with envy – jealous or envious
        Green – inexperienced, untested, untrained
        Greenhorn – novice, trainee, beginner
        Green around the gills – pale, sickly

  71. charliek says: 7

    DEAR MARINA:

    Love the website. By the way, my wife’s name is also Marina, and she is from Minsk. My question is, where did the word “jewelry” originate? Does it have anything to do with the jewish people?

    Thank you. Specibo.

    charliek

  72. runawayscott says: 6

    I always wondered where the word Barbarian came from

  73. chuckster72 says: 5

    Hi Marina,
    How are you? I love your video’s.You are very hot!!! I wanted to know where the word “Wicked” came from? Thank you

  74. Hey my lovely teacher! I was woundering if i could request the word ‘Hillbilly’ thanx….i love your videos, keep ‘em coming!

  75. JD says: 3

    Another 5 star lesson!
    And wow, what a week for us students… 6 HFW videos and a G4 TV segment!
    And who said having class 6 days a week was no fun.

  76. sunshynajc says: 2

    I would like to know the origin of the word(s) blond vs. blonde =]

    • Blond is the masculine form, blonde is the feminine. In most other European languages there are pronounced feminine endings to distinguish masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns and adjectives from each other–sometimes even verbs, in Eastern Europe.

      • alx says: 2.1.1

        as for adjectives — I don’t know. they don’t have a gender per se. they just agree with the noun’s gender. this applies to german.
        same goes for verbs, not in german, though, but in russian.

        maybe hitman can help out here.

      • I can’t give you a line number, but I recall finding somewhere in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales that blonde was spelled differently when applied to a female. In our sister language German, it would be “ein blonder Kerl, eine blonde Frau, ein blondes Weib.” We drop the “er” from masculine words so the translation would be “a blond fellow, a blonde wife, a blonde woman.”

      • alx says: 2.1.3

        yeah, I know, there’s no gender markers on most of your nouns. your inflection system is weak. almost no gender markers, almost no case markers … well, at least they’re not overt. this applies to the surface structure …

      • That’s because English transitioned from an inflectional language to a distributive language in which part of speech is determined not by the ending but by its position. You can, for example, convert almost any word into a verb by putting “-ed” on the end of it, and convert almost any word or phrase into an adjective by putting it between an article and a noun.

        Once I heard an American lady give a five-minute speech in bad Ukrainian. She came back to her seat embarrassed because of all her grammatical mistakes. I told her “It doesn’t matter. You were perfectly comprehensible because you spoke slowly enough that everyone could figure out what you meant from your word order, and they mentally supplied the endings. In an inflected languge like Ukrainian, you only need the proper endings if you want to speak at normal conversational speeds. Their own children don’t use the proper endings–just as our own kids don’t use irregular verbs properly–but adults understand children!”

        But the fact remains that “blonde” is the only adjective in English that changes its spelling when it changes its gender–and most people don’t notice, because although we often refer to a woman as a blonde, we almost never refer to a man as a blond, even if he is.

      • hitman says: 2.1.5

        alx, i am really sorry because my answer was delayed but forgive me…

        In Russian we are like germans, we have three cases female, male and neutral,
        e.g.

        автобус = bus
        автобуса = (a female bus)

        Борис = Boris
        Бориса = Borisa

        I can say that the final letters of a word determinate a 99% of the gender

        I hope you find this information useful
        And again sorry for the delay

      • alx says: 2.1.6

        yeah, hitman, it was just about the agreement between verbs and their subject concerning gender.

        like,
        он был
        она была
        оно было.

        :)

      • Not just blonde, but brunette as well (although I’ve seen brunet even less than blond).

        A word commonly seen in both the masculine and feminine forms common is fiancé (masc.) vs. fiancée (feminine).

        The common factor is that these are all words borrowed from French in the recent past (relatively speaking). Older French borrowings (those from the Norman conquest) have had time to undergo language change, and so they do not show such change.

        Oh, and you don’t need to ad -ed to verb a noun. (I did it right there!) The affix for turning a verb into a noun (an visa versa) is -Ø, i.e., it’s a null affix. All you have to do to change one into the other is use it as such.

        New adjectives are usually formed by adding -y, and new adverbs by adding -ly. (Old adjectives and adverbs can look like whatever they want, they’ve been around long enough.) So we do have a number of productive affixes in English, even if it isn’t fully inflected for gender.

        -CVQ

  77. tb2g says: 1

    That little pink piece of a bra strap poking out from under the camouflage t-shirt was a little distracting. But, since purple is one of my favorite colors, I’ll forgive you. :wink:

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