murrey

{{short description|In heraldry, purple colour}}

{{for|the English cricketer|Barbara Murrey}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox heraldic tincture

|title = Murrey

|class = Stain

|non-heraldic_equivalent = Mulberry, Maroon

|hatching = {{Hatching colors|Murrey}}

|hex = 8b004b

|tricking = m., M.

|gemstone = Sardonyx

|planet = Dragon's Tail

}}

File:Fillet saltire de jong wiki.jpg

File:Illustration_Morus_nigra0.jpg, which is the fruit of the tree Morus nigra whose reddish purple colour murrey originally represented.]]

In heraldry, murrey is a "stain", i. e. a non-standard tincture, that is a dark reddish purple colour. It is most proximate in appearance to the heraldic tincture of purpure, but is distinct therefrom.

Overview

According to dictionaries, "murrey" is the colour of mulberries, being somewhere between the heraldic tinctures of gules (red) and purpure (purple), and almost maroon;{{FOTW|id=vxt-h1|title=Heraldic dictionary}}. Accessed 14 July 2009. but examples registered in Canada[http://archive.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?ProjectID=97&ProjectElementID=375 Crest of William Dale Murray]: "Issuant from an antique crown or a bison's head in trian aspect murrey accorné or." Canadian Public Register, Volume 4, page 292. and ScotlandArms of ____ Brown: "Murrey; a chevron between two fleurs de lys in chief and a plough in base, or." Public Register, Volume 71, page 26. display it as a reddish brown.

Poetic meanings

Centuries ago, arms were often described poetically and the tinctures were associated with different gemstones, flowers and heavenly bodies. Murrey usually corresponded to the following:

  • Of jewels, the sardonyx{{cite book | author=Charles Norton Elvin |location = London | publisher = Kent | year = 1889 | title = A Dictionary of Heraldry | url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924029796426 |page=113 }}
  • Of heavenly bodies, the Dragon's TailElvin, p. 51.

Examples

The livery colours of the House of York in England in the fifteenth century were azure and murrey, as depicted on the shields of the Falcon of the Plantagenets and the White Lion of Mortimer among the Queen's Beasts.{{cite book|author=H. Stanford London|title=The Queen's Beasts|publisher=Newman Neame Ltd|pages=25–33}}

See also

References

{{reflist}}