Orange (word)#Etymology

The word "orange" entered Middle English from Old French and Anglo-Norman orenge.{{cite encyclopedia | year = 2013 | title = orange n.¹ and adj.¹ | encyclopedia = Oxford English Dictionary online | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | url =http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/132163 |access-date=2013-09-30 |url-access=subscription}} The earliest recorded use of the word in English is from the 13th century and referred to the fruit. The first recorded use of "orange" as a colour name in English was in 1502, in a description of clothing purchased for Margaret Tudor.{{Cite book|title=The Secret Lives of Colour|last=St. Clair|first=Kassia|publisher=John Murray|year=2016|isbn=9781473630819|location=London|pages=88|oclc=936144129}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv2NRSdP58kC |title=Elephant's Breath & London Smoke: Historical Colour Names, Definitions & Uses|last=Salisbury|first=Deb|date=2009|publisher=Five Rivers Chapmanry|isbn=9780973927825|pages=148|language=en}} Other sources cite the first recorded use as 1512, in a will now filed with the Public Record Office.{{cite web|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/orange-colour_n|title=orange colour – orange color, n. (and adj.)|website=Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=OED|access-date=6 March 2024}}{{Cite book|last1=Maerz|first1=Aloys John|author2=Morris Rea Paul|year=1930|title=A Dictionary of Color|location=New York|publisher=McGraw-Hill|page=200}} It is generally thought that Old French calqued the Italian melarancio ("fruit of the orange tree", with mela "fruit") as pume orenge (with pume "fruit").{{cite book |title=Word Histories and Mysteries: From Abracadabra to Zeus |url=https://archive.org/details/wordhistoriesmys00dict |url-access=limited |year=2004 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |isbn=0-618-45450-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wordhistoriesmys00dict/page/n217 201]}}{{cite encyclopedia |year=2000 |title=orange |encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=New York |isbn=0-395-82517-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanheritage0000unse_a1o7 }} Although pume orenge is attested earlier than melarancio in available written sources, lexicographers believe that the Italian word is actually older.

The word ultimately derives from a Dravidian language – possibly Tamil நாரம் nāram or Telugu నారింజ nāriṃja or Malayalam നാരങ്ങ‌ nāraŋŋa — via Sanskrit नारङ्ग nāraṅgaḥ "orange tree". From there the word entered Persian {{lang|fa|نارنگ}} nārang and then Arabic {{lang|ar|نارنج}} nāranj. The initial n was lost through rebracketing in Italian and French, though some varieties of Arabic lost the n earlier. Compare Spanish cognate naranja with initial n

The place named Orange has a separate etymology. The Roman-Celtic settlement was founded in 36 or 35 BC and originally named Arausio, after a Celtic water god.{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of the Roman Empire |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |year=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford and New York |isbn=0-19-510233-9 |page=23}} The Principality of Orange was named for this place and not for the color. Some time after the sixteenth century, though, the color orange was adopted as a canting symbol of the House of Orange-Nassau.{{cite book |title=Spanish Vocabulary: An Etymological Approach |url=https://archive.org/details/spanishvocabular00brod |url-access=limited |last=Brodsky |first=David |year=2008 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |isbn=978-0-292-71668-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/spanishvocabular00brod/page/n273 257]}} The color eventually came to be associated with Protestantism, as a result of the participation by the House of Orange on the Protestant side in the French Wars of Religion, the Irish campaigns, and the Dutch Eighty Years' War.{{cite book |title=Protestant Nations Redefined: Changing Perceptions of National Identity in the Rhetoric of the English, Dutch, and Swedish Public Churches, 1685–1772 |last=Ihalainen |first=Pasi |year=2005 |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden and Boston |isbn=90-04-14485-4 |page=348}}

{{further|English-language vowel changes before historic /r/#Mergers of /ɒr/ and /ɔr/}}

With forest, warrant, horrible, etc., orange forms a class of English words where the North American pronunciation of what is pronounced as {{IPA|/ɒ/}}, the vowel in lot, in British Received Pronunciation varies between the vowel in north ({{IPA|/ɔ/}} or {{IPA|/o/}} depending on the cot–caught merger) and that in lot ({{IPA|/ɑ/}} or {{IPA|/ɒ/}} depending on the father–bother merger). The former is more common while the latter is mainly found on the East Coast of the United States.{{Accents of English|hide2=y}} Pages 136–137, 476, 479, 525. While many dictionaries of North American English include the north pronunciation as the primary or only variant,{{cite LPD|3}}{{cite EPD|18}}{{cite DPCE|2|page=934}}{{cite American Heritage Dictionary|orange|access-date=2023-01-09}}{{cite Dictionary.com|orange|access-date=2023-01-09}}{{cite book|last1=de Wolf|first1=Gaelan Dodds|last2=Gregg|first2=Robert J.|last3=Harris|first3=Barbara P.|last4=Scargill|first4=Matthew H.|year=1997|title=Gage Canadian Dictionary|location=Toronto|publisher=Gage|page=1038|isbn=0-7715-1981-8}} Merriam-Webster lists the lot variant first and glosses the north variant as "chiefly Northern & Midland" for orange but not for other words in the class (forest etc.).{{cite Merriam-Webster|orange|access-date=2023-01-09}} Its Collegiate Dictionary listed north first until the 1973 eighth edition,{{cite book|title=Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary|year=1973|location=Springfield, Mass.|publisher=G. & C. Merriam|page=806|isbn=0-87779-338-7}} but has flipped the order since the 1983 ninth edition.{{cite book|title=Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary|year=1983|location=Springfield, Mass.|publisher=Merriam-Webster|page=829|isbn=0-87779-508-8}} Merriam-Webster is also unique in including monosyllabic variants ({{IPAc-en|ɑːr|n|dʒ|,_|ɔːr|n|dʒ}}).

== Rhyme ==

No common English word is a full rhyme for "orange", though there are half rhymes, such as "hinge", "lozenge", "syringe", and "porridge".{{cite book |title=Song and Significance: Virtues and Vices of Vocal Translation |last=Gorlée |first=Dinda L. |year=2005 |publisher=Rodopi |location=Amsterdam |isbn=90-420-1687-6 |page=199}} Slang and otherwise uncommon examples exist. Although this property is not unique to the word—one study of 5,411 one-syllable English words found 80 words with no rhymes{{cite journal |last1=Lawler |first1=John |year=2006 |title=The Data Fetishist's Guide to Rime Coherence |journal=Style |volume=40 |issue=1&2}}—the lack of rhyme for "orange" has garnered significant attention, and inspired many humorous verses.

Although "sporange", a variant of "sporangium", is an eye rhyme for "orange", it is not a true rhyme as its second syllable is pronounced with an unreduced vowel {{IPA|[-ændʒ]}}, and often stressed.{{cite encyclopedia | year = 1989 | title = sporange, n. | encyclopedia = Oxford English Dictionary, second edition | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | isbn = 0-19-861186-2}}

There are a number of proper nouns which rhyme or nearly rhyme with "orange", including The Blorenge, a mountain in Wales, and Gorringe, a surname. US Naval Commander Henry Honychurch Gorringe, the captain of the {{USS|Gettysburg|1858|6}}, who discovered Gorringe Ridge in 1875,{{cite web|url=http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/history/timeline/timeline.html#breakthrough |title=History of NOAA Ocean Exploration: The Breakthrough Years (1866–1922) |publisher=Oceanexplorer.noaa.gov |access-date=2009-07-03}} led Arthur Guiterman to quip in "Local Note":{{cite book |title=Gaily the Troubadour |last=Guiterman |first=Arthur |year=1936 |publisher=E.P. Dutton |location=Boston |oclc=1395889}}

{{poem quote

|text=In Sparkill buried lies that man of mark

Who brought the Obelisk to Central Park,

Redoubtable Commander H.H. Gorringe,

Whose name supplies the long-sought rhyme for "orange."

}}

The slang word "blorange", a hair color between blond and orange, is a rhyme. It is attested from the early 2000s and appears in fashion-related media from about 2017.{{cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/fashion/blorange/?itm_source=parsely-api |title=blorange |date=July 1, 2019 |website=Dictionary.com |access-date=October 19, 2022}}

Various linguistic or poetic devices provide for rhymes in some accents.

Compound words or phrases may give true or near rhymes. Examples include "door-hinge", "torn hinge", "or inch", and "a wrench". William Shepard Walsh attributes this verse featuring two multiple-word rhymes to Walter William Skeat:{{Cite book |title=Handy-book of Literary Curiosities |last=Walsh |first=William Shepard |location=Philadelphia |publisher=J.B. Lippincott |year=1892 |oclc=221721603}}

{{poem quote

|text=I gave my darling child a lemon,

That lately grew its fragrant stem on;

And next, to give her pleasure {{em|more}} range,

I offered her a juicy orange.

And nuts, she cracked them in the door-hinge.

}}

Enjambment can also provide for rhymes. One example is Willard Espy's poem, "The Unrhymable Word: Orange".{{cite book |title=A Man of my Words: Reflections on the English Language |last=Lederer |first=Richard |year=2003 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=0-312-31785-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/manofmywordsrefl00lede }}

{{poem quote

|text=The four eng-

ineers

Wore orange

brassieres.

}}

Another example by Tom Lehrer relies on the /ˈɑrəndʒ/ pronunciation commonly used on the East Coast of the United States:{{cite news |title=Tom Lehrer: Live & Off-color. In His Own Words: On Life, Lyrics and Liberals In His Own Words |author=Lehrer, Tom |newspaper=Washington Post |date=Jan 3, 1982 |page=E1}}

{{poem quote

|text=Eating an orange

While making love

Makes for bizarre enj-

oyment thereof.

}}

Rapper Eminem is noted for his ability to bend words so that they rhyme.{{Cite book|last=Edwards|first=Paul|title=How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC|publisher=Chicago Review Press|year=2009|location=Chicago|isbn=978-1-55652-816-3|title-link=How to Rap}} In his song "Business" from the album The Eminem Show, he makes use of such word-bending to rhyme "orange":{{Citation|last1=Mathers|first1=Marshall|last2=Young|first2= A.|last3=Feemster|first3=Theron|last4=Elizondo|first4=Mike|year=2002|title=Business|title-link=Business (song)|type=song|work=The Eminem Show}}

{{poem quote

|text=Set to blow college dorm rooms doors off the hinges,

Oranges, peach, pears, plums, syringes,

VROOM VROOM! Yeah, here I come, I'm inches,

}}

Nonce words are sometimes contrived to rhyme with "orange". Composers Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel wrote the song "Oranges Poranges" to be sung by the Witchiepoo character on the television programme H.R. Pufnstuf.{{cite web|url=http://dt.prohosting.com/70s/childtv/krofft_facts.txt |title=The World of Sid & Marty Krofft Fact Sheet |access-date=2009-07-03}}

{{poem quote

|text=Oranges poranges, who says,

oranges poranges, who says,

oranges poranges, who says

there ain't no rhyme for oranges?

}}

• Rhymes with Orange, a syndicated comic strip

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Wiktionary|orange}}

{{wiktionary|Rhymes:English/ɒɹɪndʒ}}

• [https://orangerhymez.appspot.com Orange Rhymez!], a website that finds half-rhymes for "orange"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orange (Word)}}

Category:English words

Category:Etymologies