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History: What’s in a Name?

There are many color dualities—and orange is no exception. Used as both a noun and adjective, no English word exists to serve as a true rhyme for orange. It is the only color of the spectrum whose name was taken from a fruit, the well-known orange (citrus sinensis). Coming from a evergreen tree, oranges are among the most grown fruit in the world, and because the tree is ever bearing, the color orange became associated with fruitfulness.

Having passed through many languages, the word initially got its start from the Dravidian root for ‘fragrant’. It was then interpreted in Sanskrit, and then made its way among Persian, Armenian, Arabic, Latin, Italian, Old French dialects before making its first appearance in English in the 14th century.

Before 1542 “yellow-red” (geoluhread) was the word used to describe the color before the fruit and color were synonymous.

The etiology for the first place named Orange may be estranged from the word, but is no less symbolic in meaning.

Founded in 35 BC, Orange began as a Roman-Celtic settlement in southeastern, France. Named Arasio, after the Celtic water god, this area consisted of approximately 170 acres and has the warmest average temperatures of any city of France to date. After many conquests and power shifts from the time of the Holy Roman Empire, this area was inherited by William the Silent, count of Nassau (in the Netherlands), who became Prince of Orange in 1544. The principality was incorporated into the holdings of what became the House of Orange-Nassau, eventually becoming part of Netherlands Monarchy. Although the House of Orange died out in its male line with the death of Queen Wilhelmina (1948), the name “Orange” continues to be used by Dutch royalty today.

The color was adopted as a symbol of the House of Orange-Nassau after the sixteenth century, and is presently used as the national color for the Netherlands.

As an acknowledgement to the Dutch heritage in the U.S., flags for New York City and New York State both have an orange stripe which reference New York’s original name of New Amsterdam.

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