# Orange **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 10, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475 "2004-03-10T13:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/1 "2004-03-10T13:31:31Z")
So, whaqt was the color orange called in Enlish before 1620? ---
**Author:** ![stf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/db5fbb/32.png) [@stf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stf)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/2 "2004-03-10T15:19:59Z")
[What came first, orange or oranges?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_344a.html) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/3 "2004-03-10T15:57:34Z")
That was addressed in the column the OP was in response to; it’s on the SD Main Page. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/4 "2004-03-10T16:04:40Z")
Oops, I didn’t realize that was the link; but I did not see in the column what word was used for the color before ‘orange’. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/5 "2004-03-10T16:50:11Z")
I had the same question. ---
**Author:** ![Faldage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Faldage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faldage)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/6 "2004-03-10T17:09:57Z")
[AHD4](http://www.bartleby.com/61/52/O0105200.html), OTOH, says that the word _orange_ came into English in 1380. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/7 "2004-03-10T17:15:10Z")
It is absolutely possible (and I think I vaguely remember something to that effect) that they used no word at all. This is a column on a slightly different question that contains many things relevant here: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_168b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_168b.html) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/8 "2004-03-10T17:24:23Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/9 "2004-03-10T19:27:32Z")
> [@Faldage](#): > > [AHD4](http://www.bartleby.com/61/52/O0105200.html), OTOH, says that the word _orange_ came into English in 1380. So does the OED. What Cecil said was that orange as an **adjective** didn’t come into use until 1620. ---
**Author:** ![Faldage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Faldage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faldage)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/10 "2004-03-10T19:46:49Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > What Cecil said was that orange as an **adjective** didn’t come into use until 1620. So we went about 240 years with the word before we attached it to the color. Personally I like the answer that **Bookkeeper** came up with in the Pale Red thread: > [@bookkeeper](#): > > I would say “tawny”, based on the use of this word for orange-coloured items in heraldry, which predates the introduction of “orange”. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/11 "2004-03-10T19:56:19Z")
In heraldry (the formalized rules of which predate “orange” as a colour) orange is named “tenné”, an Old French word equivalent to “tawny” in English. Given that natural source colours and dyes of the period would be more of a muted yellow/brown than the bright orange we are familiar with, I would say that \*\*tawny \*\* was used for most or all colours we would now call orange. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/12 "2004-03-10T19:58:30Z")
Wow, my first simulpost! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orange/233475/13 "2004-03-10T20:17:18Z")
Thank you again. I found the details about having words for yellow and green just fascinating. What shocked me was that anyone would think that a language lacking a specific word for a color could mean that a people could not distinguish that color.