Blue versus Brown Trivia Quiz

Answer:

These shades of blue have a story to them. Some have a natural inspiration:

- caerulean blue (or cerulean in American English) comes from the Latin 'caeruleus' and is probably a form of 'caerulum' (meaning heaven or sky). With a recorded use dating from the 16th century, it is a blue-green pigment made from cobalt stannate. First synthesised in the 18th century, it appears in some famous 19th century oil paintings. At least five birds include the colour in their name.

- Nothing to do with the Scottish football club (which uses green and white colours), Celtic blue can be traced back through Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic languages which in effect record the use of woad (Isatis tinctoria) to make a blue dye. The Roman general Julius Caesar observed the dye painted on the bodies of Britanni warriors.

- cornflower blue (the colour) is a reference to the flower Centaurea cyanus. The 17th century chemist Robert Boyle made a dye from the cornflower, which was also called Boyle's blue and cyan blue. Various other organisations have their own versions. Cornflower blue was a favourite of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer and is also a name given to the most prized blue sapphires.

- cyan is a colour that lies between blue and green. In this quiz, it is being used as cyan-blue. There is a spectrum of colours that can be described as cyan as typified by the shades of the gem turquoise. A darker cyan is sometimes called teal. Where the shade leans to the bluer end, it is called teal blue. Leaning to the green end and it may be referred to as teal green.

- lapis lazuli (the colour) takes its name from the metamorphic mineral prized for its colour since ancient times. It has been mined in what is now Afghanistan perhaps as long ago as 9,000 years. Artists started grinding this semi-precious stone to make an ultramarine pigment. Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is one famous example of its use.

- periwinkle (the colour) takes its name from the lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor), also called myrtle herb. The colour is also called lavender blue and is a tone of light blue.

- sapphire (the colour) refers to the gemstone, which most commonly occurs in a range of blues including cornflower blue, as mentioned above. In a cultural reference, the brand Bombay Sapphire is sold in a pale sapphire-coloured bottle.

- Paracanthurus hepatus is an Indo-Pacific species of surgeonfish with the common name royal blue tang, among many similar names typically including the word 'blue'. The colour tang blue takes its name after the fish. Not to be confused with the other blue tang which is an Atlantic species, the Acanthurus coeruleus, whose juveniles are yellow.

- Named after the ice giant planet Uranus, the colour Uranian blue is a light greenish blue. The colour of the planet as viewed from space is determined by the atmosphere around the planet and in particular the absorption bands of the methane present. In the visible spectrum, the methane absorbs red light. Ice giant Neptune's colour is a bit darker. This seems to be due to various factors: a thinner haze layer, the presence of methane ice (more effective at red light absorption) and slightly higher reflectivity in blue wavelengths.

Those blues without a natural analogue:

- There are a few colours named Air Force blue. The Air Force blue (RAF) or RAF blue has been around since 1920 and is still used in British RAF uniforms and the official RAF flag. It is a medium shade of azure. The two US Air Force blues, the Air Force blue (USAF) and the US Air Force Academy blue, are slightly different shades of azure. Various other air forces also use shades of blue.

- The eldest daughter of American President Theodore Roosevelt is responsible for the colour Alice blue. It was her favourite colour and was behind the hit song "Alice Blue Gown" which used her signature gown as inspiration and was first performed in the 1919 Broadway musical "Irene". The colour is used on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier, and could be described as the blue exhibited by ice floes in sunshine.

- The dynastic House of Savoy has been around for over 1,000 years and ruled Italy from 1861 until 1946. They started using the colour savoy blue (or savoy azure) in the 14th century. The colour became a national colour during the unification of Italy in 1861 and is also known as Italian blue.

The following are the shades of brown in this quiz:

- One of the traditional colours of Japan, kobicha is an earthy brown hue reminiscent of a certain kelp tea. The traditional colours go back to the early 7th century when a rank and social hierarchy system was established based on colours. 'Forbidden colours' were reserved for the Imperial family and certain court officials while kobicha was one of the permitted colours', meaning it could be used by commoners. Kobicha is also used metaphorically as a term for flattery, perhaps similar to 'brown nosing' to use another colourful metaphor.

- A macabre one is the pigment mummy brown, literally made from the flesh of Egyptian mummies mixed with white pitch and myrrh. It was popular with Pre-Raphaelite artists. The colour is also called Egyptian brown. Shortage of mummies and the pigment's lack of permanency led to demand dying out about 100 years ago.

- sepia is the reddish-brown colour derived from the ink from the common cuttlefish of the Sepia genus. Used in Greek and Roan times as a writing ink, it was commonly used by artists until the 19th century. Modern use of the colour is in photography where a chemical process is used to give black and white photographs a brown tone.

- Taupe is the French word for "mole". The colour taupe is a dark grey-brown colour, meant to be the average colour of a mole's fur although it now takes in a larger range of shades. Its use as a colour in English perhaps dates back at least to the beginning of the 20th century.

- The wood of an African legume tree Millettia laurentii is the source of the colour wenge. The common names of this tropical tree are wenge, faux ebony, dikela, mibotu, bokonge and awong. It is wenge which has been associated with the colour and is now of endangered status as a result of habitat loss and over-exploitation.