The Lure of the Foreign: a rant.

One of the two best-selling colours made by the British firm Edward Bulmer Natural Paints is celadon.

Celadon is not only a beautiful word, but it is the colour of a glaze used in oriental pottery:


Korean pot, photo by de Calais

Celadon was highly fashionable in China for a while, being the colour of precious jade, but then the blue-and-white painted stuff came along and then everyone moved on. But that's fashion for you.

Still, having your walls painted in celadon would show you to be a person of culture and refinement, wouldn't it. I can see why you'd choose it.

The other best-selling Edward Bulmer paint colour also has a name with a foreign origin. It is Cuisse de Nymphe Emue and it's a sort of sludgy pink.

Cuisse de Nymphe Emue translates as thigh of an aroused nymph. 

And what sort of a reputation that gets you I do not know.

Word To Use Today: um...it'd better be celadon, I think. Although celadon glaze was originally Chinese the word is actually European, and no one is sure quite where it came from. Honoré d'Urfé's romance L'Astrée (based on Ovid's Metamorphoses) involved a shepherd called Celadon who wore pale green ribbons*. Or celadon might be a form of the name of the Sultan Saladin, who was known to send celadon ware as presents. Or it might be from the Sanskrit sila dhara, which means green stone.

*Though in Ovid, Celadon is actually two guys who get killed in fights.