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gamboge (gam-BOHJ, gam-BOOZH) - n., any of several species of trees (genus Garcinia, esp. G. xanthochymus) of South and Southeastern Asia; the resin of the gamboge tree, used medicinally and as a pigment; a strong orangish yellow color (originally made from this pigment).
One more color name, because it showed up on one of my WotD lists and the word I had intended to run turned out to be tedious repeat. The color is roughly , depending on your monitor -- the color of the robes of Buddhist monks ... literally, as traditionally they're dyed with gamboge meaning two. The word arrived in English first as the color name, in 1634, from New Latin gambogium, the gum resin, from Gambogia, the Latin word for Cambodia, from Portuguese, from the Khmer name Kâmpŭchéa, from Kambu, the name of the legendary founder of Kamboja, a kingdom that flourished in what is now India about 2500 years ago. Yay linguistic drift.
ETA: So when you pass Kâmpŭchéa through Portuguese > Latin, you get gamboge, and through Portuguese > Japanese, you get kabocha. Hmmm.
---L.
One more color name, because it showed up on one of my WotD lists and the word I had intended to run turned out to be tedious repeat. The color is roughly , depending on your monitor -- the color of the robes of Buddhist monks ... literally, as traditionally they're dyed with gamboge meaning two. The word arrived in English first as the color name, in 1634, from New Latin gambogium, the gum resin, from Gambogia, the Latin word for Cambodia, from Portuguese, from the Khmer name Kâmpŭchéa, from Kambu, the name of the legendary founder of Kamboja, a kingdom that flourished in what is now India about 2500 years ago. Yay linguistic drift.
ETA: So when you pass Kâmpŭchéa through Portuguese > Latin, you get gamboge, and through Portuguese > Japanese, you get kabocha. Hmmm.
---L.
