A doctor discussing the disease porphyria on TV mentioned that the name comes from the Greek word for "purple", because it sometimes has the effect of giving a purple coloration to bodily fluids, particularly to urine.

Oddly, the dictionaries seem to miss this. OED's etymology 'porpyria' traces it to the German name; AHD's to the New Latin name. But neither goes back farther to the Greek or mentions the 'purple' aspect.


Also: This word, with a non-obvious color-connnection, suggested to me a possible theme of "Words with hidden color-connections". But I had zip success when seeking more such words by a quick OED search for terms with 'purple' or 'blue' or 'green' in the etymologies. Only useless hits turned up.

Can anyone suggest others?

The word describe a condition caused by an abnormality of the porphyrins in the blood. The AHD entry for porphyrin gives the Greek etymology.

quote:

the effect of giving a purple coloration to bodily fluids, particularly to urine.

I mock all you blue-bloods, you see,
For you can’t compare now with me.
Because my porphyrin
Is staining my urine
And I now propagate purple pee.

Blue-bloods? Hmmmm... You may have gotten into something, there. The classical composer Alexander Borodin's father was Count Porphyry, so indeed a blue-blood! Also, purple is considered a royal color, so maybe you're not pissing up the wrong (family) tree!

Umm, speaking of yellow stuff (?) let's not forget jaundice. According to "Online Etymology" (etymonline.com), the original usage referred to a feeling, rather than to the yellowness of skin due to a liver condition.
c.1303, from O.Fr. jaunisse "yellowness" (12c.), from jaune "yellow," from L. galbinus "greenish yellow," probably from PIE *ghel- "yellow, green" (see Chloe). With intrusive -d- (cf. gender, astound, thunder). Meaning "feeling in which views are colored or distorted" first recorded 1629, from yellow's association with bitterness and envy (see yellow).

gall - yellow

argue - clear/white