prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2015-04-28 07:58 am

verdigris

verdigris (VUR-di-gris, VUR-di-grees) - n., a bluish-green patina formed on exposed copper, brass, or bronze surfaces consisting principally of basic copper sulfate; this color.


If near the sea, the copper on the surface forms a basic copper chloride instead. For the color, see the New York statue of Liberty. In Middle English, it was spelled/pronounced vertegrez, from Anglo-French vere grez < vert-de-Grece, from Old French vert-de-Grèce, green of Greece. It was used as a pigment, but why that was associated in particular with Greece, I'm not finding quickly.

---L.

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