Amaranth (color) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Amaranth is a red

Red

Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...

dish-rose

Rose (color)

Rose is the color halfway between red and magenta on the HSV color wheel, also known as the RGB color wheel, on which it is at hue angle of 330 degrees.Rose is one of the tertiary colors on the HSV color wheel...

color

Color

Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...

that is a representation of the color of the flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

of the amaranth

Amaranth

Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold...

plant. The color shown is the color of the red amaranth flower (the color normally considered amaranth), but there are other varieties of amaranth that have other colors of amaranth flowers; these colors are also shown below.

The color amaranth is similar to printer's magenta

Magenta

Magenta is a color evoked by light stronger in blue and red wavelengths than in yellowish-green wavelengths . In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light...

(pigment magenta) (but redder). It is the color of the flower of those amaranth

Amaranth

Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold...

plants that have amaranth red colored flowers.

The first recorded use of amaranth as a color name in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

was in 1690.

Amaranth

The color amaranth is also called amaranth red to distinguish it from the varying colors of other varieties of the amaranth flower.

This color is similar to printer's magenta

Magenta

(pigment magenta) (Hex Code #FF0090) (but a lot more reddish). It is the color of the flower of those amaranth

Amaranth

Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold...

plants that have amaranth red colored flowers.

The first recorded use of amaranth as a color name in English

English language

was in 1690.

Etymology

The name amaranth comes from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

a (not) + marainean (to waste away), i.e., a flower believed to grow on Mount Olympus which never died.

Amaranth pink

The first recorded use of amaranth pink as a color name in English

English language

was in 1905.

Radical red (bright amaranth pink)

The Crayola

Crayola

Crayola is a brand of artists' supplies manufactured by Crayola LLC, which was founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith. It is best known for its crayons...

crayon

Crayon

A crayon is a stick of colored wax, charcoal, chalk, or other materials used for writing, coloring, drawing, and other methods of illustration. A crayon made of oiled chalk is called an oil pastel; when made of pigment with a dry binder, it is simply a pastel; both are popular media for color...

color radical red is displayed at right.

The color radical red, which may also be called bright amaranth pink, was formulated by Crayola in 1990.

Amaranth purple

The first recorded use of amaranth purple as a color name in English

English language

was in 1912.

Literature

Amaranth is the name of the otherworldly pantheon that amuses itself by toying with individuals' luck in Tim Lebbon
Tim Lebbon
Tim Lebbon is a horror and dark fantasy writer, and a judge at the 2005 World Fantasy Convention.-Life and career:Lebbon was born in London. His short story "Reconstructing Amy" won the Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction in 2001 and his novel Dusk won the 2007 August Derleth Award from the...

's novella "The Unfortunate".
In Garth Nix
Garth Nix
Garth Nix is an Australian author of young adult fantasy novels, most notably the Old Kingdom series, The Seventh Tower series, and The Keys to the Kingdom series. He has frequently been asked if his name is a pseudonym, to which he has responded, "I guess people ask me because it sounds like the...

's novel Abhorsen
Abhorsen
Abhorsen is a fantasy novel by Australian writer Garth Nix, first published in 2003. It is the final novel in his Abhorsen trilogy and his third book in the currently five book long planned Old Kingdom series .Abhorsen features Lirael, who is the recently revealed Abhorsen-in-Waiting; Prince...

, the third chapter is entitled "Amaranth, Rosemary and Tears".
Love-Lies-Bleeding (a poetic
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

name for the amaranth flower) is the title of a 2005 play by Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...

.
In Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

's novel Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card and an indirect sequel to the novel Ender's Game. This book takes place around the year 5270, some 3,000 years after the events in Ender's Game...

, amaranth is the only grass in the limited ecosystem of the planet Lusitania.
In the novel To Live Forever by Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...

, the members of the Amaranth Society have achieved immortality.

Music

Amaranth is the title of a music CD by composer Robert Agis.
In the AFI
AFI (band)
AFI is an American alternative rock band from Ukiah, California that formed in 1991. They have consisted of the same lineup since 1998: lead vocalist Davey Havok, drummer and backup vocalist Adam Carson, with bassist Hunter Burgan and guitarist Jade Puget, who both play keyboard and contribute...

song, "The Great Disappointment", Davey Havok
Davey Havok
David Paden Marchand , more commonly known by the stage name Davey Havok, is the lead vocalist of the American rock band AFI and the electronic music band Blaqk Audio....

sings: "I can remember. I searched for the amaranth. I'd shut my eyes to see."
The Swedish gothic/doom metal band Draconian
Draconian (band)
-External links:* at Napalm Records...

has written a song titled "The Amaranth".
Amarantine
Amarantine (album)
Amarantine is an album by Irish musician Enya. The album was released on November 22, 2005. It won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album for 2007.The release date was announced by Roma Ryan on September 23, 2005, at the official Enya forum...

is the name of a 2005 album and single by Irish vocal artist Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...

, and is mentioned in her song Flora's Secret wherein she sings: "Looking up through eyes of amaranthine."
It is a song by Finnish symphonic/power metal band Nightwish
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Anette Olzon and the...

, for their 2007 album Dark Passion Play
Dark Passion Play
Dark Passion Play is the sixth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released on 26 September, 2007 in Finland, 28 September in Europe and 2 October 2007 in the United States. It was the first Nightwish album with the band's current lead singer, Anette Olzon, and the first album...

.
In the Animal Collective
Animal Collective
Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...

song, "Cuckoo Cuckoo," Avey Tare
Avey Tare
Avey Tare is a musician and founding member of Animal Collective. Portner lives in Brooklyn, NY.-Animal Collective:...

sings: "I can't see the landscape. Please describe its amaranthine haze."

Mythology

In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Amaranthus was a hunter of the island of Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...

, a son of King Abas
Abas
Abas or ABAS may refer to:In people:*Abas , an ancient Greek sophist and rhetorician*Abas , several individuals in Greek and Roman mythology...

. He was loved by the goddess Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

and joined her in the hunt. But he insulted Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

as worthless, claiming the bounty of the hunt was superior to that of the sea. For this the god sent a giant wave which washed him into the sea and drowned him. Artemis then turned him into an amaranth-flower, her sacred plant.

Poetry and literary symbolism

The color amaranth represents immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...

in Western culture
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

because the name is derived from the name in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

of a flower that was believed to never die that grew in the abode of the Greek gods on Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...

. Something that is perceived as everlasting may be described by the adjective amaranthine. (The color peach
Peach (color)
Peach is a color that is named for the pale color of the peach fruit. Like the color apricot, the color called peach is paler than most actual peach fruits and seems to have been formulated primarily to create a pastel palette of colors for interior design...

represents immortality in Chinese culture, because in Daoism the Goddess of the West is believed to guard the peach trees of immortality in the Tian Shan
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan , also spelled Tien Shan, is a large mountain system located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak , ....

mountains.)
Amaranth is the name of a long Sapphic
Sapphic
Sapphic can refer to:* Related to Sappho, a 7th century BC poetess** Sapphic stanza, a four line poetic form* Sapphic love, related to female homosexuality...

poem by the great imagiste H.D.
H.D.
H.D. was an American poet, novelist and memoirist known for her association with the early 20th century avant-garde Imagist group of poets such as Ezra Pound and Richard Aldington...

, and is based on Sappho
Sappho
Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...

's fragment 131.

Sports

Italian football teams Livorno
A.S. Livorno Calcio
Associazione Sportiva Livorno Calcio is an Italian football club based in Livorno, Tuscany. The club was formed in 1915 and currently plays in Italian Serie B. The team's colors are dark red or maroon...

and Reggina
Reggina Calcio
Reggina Calcio are an Italian association football club, the main club of the city of Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in the Italian Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo...

have amaranth as their traditional home kit color.
Noted British motorcycle designer, Edward Turner
Edward Turner
Edward Turner was a British motorcycle designer. He was born in Camberwell in the London Borough of Southwark, on the day King Edward VII was proclaimed King....

chose Amaranth red as the color for his revolutionary 1938 Triumph Speed Twin
Triumph Speed Twin
The Speed Twin 5T is a motorcycle that was made by Triumph at their Coventry factory. Edward Turner, Triumph’s Chief Designer and Managing Director, launched the Triumph Speed Twin at the 1937 National Motorcycle Show. It was a 500 cc OHV vertical twin in a lightweight frame and the first...

in memory of his late first wife's appreciation of its bloom. The model kept this color throughout its model run and initially upon re-design in 1959.

Video Games

In the video game Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy IX
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the ninth title in the Final Fantasy series. The game introduced new features to the series like the 'Active Time Event', 'Mognet' and a unique equipment and skill system.Final Fantasy IXs...

, Amarant Coral is a character with red hair; he is also known as "Flaming Amarant", "Scarlet Hair", and "Red".

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Amaranth

Etymology

Amaranth pink

Radical red (bright amaranth pink)

Amaranth purple

Literature

Music

Mythology

Poetry and literary symbolism

Sports

Video Games

See also

External links