- crimson
- 1416, "deep red color," from O.Sp. cremesin "of or belonging to the kermes" (the shield-louse insects from which a deep red dye was obtained), from M.L. cremesinus, from Arabic qirmiz "kermes," from Skt. krmi-ja a compound meaning "(red dye) produced by a worm," from krmih "worm" + -ja- "produced" (from PIE *gene-). For sense evolution, see cochineal. Cf. O.C.S. čruminu, Rus. čermnyj "red," from the same source. Cf. also vermilion. The insect (Kermes vermilio) lives on the Kermes oak. The insects were gathered commercially in Mediterranean countries and sold throughout Europe. Kermes dyes have been found in burial wrappings in Anglo-Scandinavian York. It fell out of use with the introduction of cochineal. The dyes were comparable in quality and color intensity, but ten to twelve times as much kermes was needed to produce the same effect as cochineal.
- magenta
- 1860, in allusion to the Battle of Magenta, in Italy, where the French and Sardinians defeated the Austrians in 1859, because the brilliant crimson aniline dye was discovered shortly after the battle, which advanced the cause of It. independence and fired the imagination of European liberals.
- carmine
- 1712, from Fr. carmin, from M.L. carminium, from Arabic qirmiz "crimson," from Skt. krimiga "insect-produced," from krmi "worm, insect." The dye comes from crushed cochineal insects. Influenced in L. by minium "red lead."
- vermilion
- 1296, "cinnabar, red dye," from O.Fr. vermeillon, from vermeil "bright-red," from L.L. vermiculus "a little worm," specifically, the cochineal insect from which crimson dyes were obtained (see cochineal), in classical L., "larva of an insect, grub, maggot," dim. of vermis "worm" (see worm).
- cochineal
- 1580s, from Fr. cochenille, from Sp. cochinilla "wood louse," or It. cocciniglia, from Mod.L. coccinum "scarlet robe," coccineus "scarlet-colored," from coccum "scarlet," lit. "grain, berry." Coccum is cognate with Gk. kokkos, which had the same senses. The crushed insect dye was once wrongly supposed to be from the grain or berry of a plant. The insect lives on plants in Mexico and Central America. Aztecs and other Mexican Indians used it as a dyestuff; it first is mentioned in Europe in 1523 in Sp. correspondence to Hernán Cortés in Mexico. Specimens were brought to Spain in the 1520s, and cloth merchants in Antwerp were buying cochineal in insect and powdered form in Spain by the 1540s. Replaced the kermes insect as a source of red dye in Europe. So important was this source of scarlet dye that derivatives of the name for it have displaced the original word for "red" in many languages, e.g. Welsh coch, Mod.Gk. kokkinos. Cf. also crimson, vermilion.