Frances Hodgson Burnett, In Connection with the DeWilloughby Claim, 1899 … the trees were dropping golden, amber, and scarlet leaves, while under the pale yellow ones which rustled beneath the chestnut-trees, there were brown, glossy nuts…. It is from the color of this resin that amber has come to refer to a dark orange yellow. Species of insects and plants have been found as fossils in this yellowish to brownish amber, and deeply colored, translucent pieces are used in making jewelry and ornamental objects. In English, amber was originally used as the name for this substance, with the name ambergris developing later in French from ambre and gris ('gray') to differentiate it from the fossilized tree resin type of amber, which is also found around the shore (of the Baltic Sea, largely).

It is derived from Arabic, anbar, which refers to ambergris, a waxy secretion (there's that word again) of the sperm whale that is used as a spice and in perfumery. Robert Pack, 'Mountain Ash Without Cedar Waxwings,' 1993Īmber can describe the dark orange-yellow color of a floating leaf or a substance found floating in the sea. The likely last nostalgic warmth of autumn / has gone by, the amber leaves / have fallen from the mountain ash, and still / luminescent berries / hold their positions on the chill, stiff branches. In the 17th century, russet was planted in the field of agriculture as a name for pears and apples with rough skins of a russet color, and again in the late-18th century when it became the name of the popular potato. English borrowed the French term for the cloth in the 13th century before using it in its color sense.Īssociation of the word with rural living led to its use as an adjective meaning 'rustic,' 'homely,' and 'simple.' For example, Shakespeare's character Berowne in Love’s Labour's Lost, frustrated by Rosaline's literal interpretation of his words, swears off courtly wooing and decides to answer simply in 'russet yeas and honest kersey noes.' Its name is a borrowing of an Anglo-French adjective, meaning 'reddish' or 'reddish-brown,' that came to designate a coarse, homespun cloth used to make garments. 2019īeing a reddish brown, russet is a popular fall color. Robert Miller, The Litchfield County Times, 9 Oct.

Because of the emerald ash borer, their claret foliage may be missing from the landscape. The oaks are yet to make their move to russet. I found no pleasure in the silent trees, the falling fir-cones, the congealed relics of autumn, russet leaves, swept by past winds in heaps, and now stiffened together.

Different words for orange colour