Purple has for centuries been associated with wealth and sovereignty. Purple dye was extremely expensive and so, in ancient societies, could only be afforded by the wealthy. Similarly, in Feng Shui, it symbolises wealthy and prosperity.
The colour is also associated with mourning and solemnity, and as such, is often used in association with Lent.
Words used to describe the colour purple include: wealthy, magic, dignity, drama, extravagance, wisdom, spirtuality, royalty, solemnity, drama, fiendship, sympathy.
Purple isn't an exact colour, and is technically any shade between red and blue. There are hundreds of shades of purple, including:
Amethyst
Cerise
Crocus
Heliotrope
Indigo
Lavender
Lilac
Mauve
Mulberry
Orchid
Pansy Purple
Plum
Thistle
Tyrian Purple
Veronica
Violet
Wisteria
The Ancient Greek's referred to the rich purple dye as πορφυρα (porphyra), which was also used as a feminine name (Porphyra). The masculine Porphyrios survives in the Anglicised form Porphyry (which is also the name of a semi-precious purple stone), and the Italian and Spanish Porfirio, which was used by several early saints. The Latin form is purpura, from which our word for purple is derived.
Old Irish gives us corcra "reddish purple" from which derives the name Corcran, borne by at least one early Irish saint. It is also possibly the source for Corcc, a name used popularly in medieval Munster, surviving in the surname Quirke.
The Greek ιον (ion) "violet" is found in the names Ianthe, a mythological water nymph; Iole, a lover of Herakles; Iamos, the son of Evadne and Apollo; and the 19th century creation Iolanthe.
Viola is the Latin cognate, famously used by Shakespeare for the heroine of Twelfth Night. Violet, Violetta and Violette are variant forms. Other "violet" names include Ibolya (Hungarian), Ljubica (Slavic) and Sigalit (Hebrew).
Amaranthine is a poetic term, thought to have been coined by Milton, which is often used to describe a shade of deep purple-red. It is taken from the Amaranth flower, which derives from the Greek for "everlasting."
For straight purple translations we can use: lila (German), lilla (Danish), morado (Spanish) and roxo (Portuguese).
The most well known purple gem stone is the Amethyst, derived from the Greek αμέθυστος (amethystos) "not intoxicated." In Greek mythology a young maid named Amethystos was turned into the gem by Artemis, to save her from the unwelcome advances of Dionysus. Other purple gems include Lavender Chalcedony, Charoite, Sugalite, Tanzanite, Purple Jade.
