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celadon (n.)
"pale grayish-green color," 1768, from French Céladon, name of a character in the once-popular romance of "l'Astrée" by Honoré d'Urfé (1610); an insipidly sentimental lover who wore bright green clothes, he is named in turn after Celadon (Greek Keladon), a character in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," whose name is said to mean "sounding with din or clamor." The mineral celadonite (1868) is so called for its color.
updated on October 25, 2017
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