Jane Williams noted that perhaps Minaryth Purple of Jonstown is so named
because he likes expensive purple-dyed clothes. She asks "where does that
leave our diary-keeping friend from KoS, Minaryth Blue?" I seem to recall
that in ancient times, purple and blue were considered the same color when
it came to dyes. I recall that the Latin word purpurus refers to the
purple-blue dye which was (1) created from the shells of some oyster-like
sea critter, (2) sold by the Phoenicians in Carthage, and (3) used by the
Romans as a symbol of status (some togas were dyed witha purple stripe). I
don't recall a separate word for blue other than ocean- and sky-related
words. However, this is from high school Latin and I'm pretty senile.
Nonetheless, perhaps there is a connection--pssibilities include family,
intentional copying, and identity between the two. I'm no KoS expert, so
I'll leave to to the experts.
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