来源：英语点津 中国日报双语新闻
红色和黄色是秋天的代表颜色，但除了red和yellow之外，还能用什么词汇描述这两种色调？
我们整理了10个关于秋色的表达， feuille morte（枯叶黄）、amber（琥珀色）、gamboge（藤黄）……学会这些单词，你也可以写出诗般优美的句子了。
feuille morte [fœj-mɔʀ]
枯叶黄
In French, the term literally means "dead leaf." In English, feuille morte refers specifically to a brownish-orange or yellowish-brown color. The synonymous derivative, philamot, can also be used to describe the brownish, yellowish colors in autumn foliage.
Feuille morte（枯叶黄）在法语中的意思是“枯叶”。在英语中，feuille morte专指橙褐色或黄褐色。其同义词philamot，也可以用来描述褐色、黄色的秋叶。
sepia [sepja]
深棕色
In modern English, sepia is best known as the name for the brownish tone that makes photographs look vintage. Sepia hues can be found in an autumn leaf—and in the ocean.
在现代英语中，sepia为人熟知的意思是指复古照片的棕色调。秋叶和海洋中就有这种颜色。
Originally, the word was applied to the cuttlefish, a creature related to the squid and octopus that, when alarmed, releases an inky secretion. In the 19th century, watercolor painters began using sepia secretion to create a rich, brown pigment, which became known as sepia. A common description of the color is brownish gray to dark olive brown.
Sepia的本意指墨鱼，这种生物和乌贼、章鱼属于同类，受到惊吓时，会释放出一种污黑的分泌物。19世纪时，水彩画家们开始用墨鱼的分泌物制作色彩浓厚的棕色颜料，称之为sepia。对这种颜色最普遍的描述是介于棕灰色和深橄榄棕色之间的一种颜色。
russet ['rʌsɪt]
红棕色
Being a reddish brown, russet is a popular fall color. Its name is a borrowing of an Anglo-French adjective, meaning "reddish" or "reddish-brown," that came to designate a coarse, homespun cloth used to make garments. English borrowed the French term for the cloth in the 13th century before using it in its color sense.
Russet指红棕色，是一种常见的秋天代表色。这个单词是诺曼时代英国所用法语中的一个形容词，原意为“略带红色的”或“略带红棕色的”，指代一种粗糙的土布衣料。13世纪时，人们将这个法语单词引入英语中，之后取其色彩含义使用。
Association of the word with rural living led to its use as an adjective meaning "rustic," "homely," and "simple."
因为russet和乡村生活有关，因此也可以做形容词表示“朴素的”、“家常的”、“简单的”意思。
amber ['æmbəʳ]
琥珀色
Amber can describe the dark orange-yellow color of a floating leaf or a substance found floating in the sea. It is derived from Arabic, anbar, which refers to ambergris, a waxy secretion of the sperm whale that is used as a spice and in perfumery. In English, amber was originally used as the name for this substance, with the name ambergris developing later in French from ambre and gris ("gray") to differentiate it from the fossilized tree resin type of amber, which is also found around the shore (of the Baltic Sea, largely).
Amber（琥珀色）可以用来形容暗橘色的浮叶，或者海上的漂浮物。这个单词源于阿拉伯语中的anbar，指的是一种制作香料和香水的原材料——龙涎香（抹香鲸的蜡状分泌物）。Amber在英语中原本是龙涎香的名字。为了区分龙涎香和化石树脂型琥珀（大部分化石树脂型琥珀发现于波罗的海海岸），后来法语中出现了ambergris（龙涎香）的说法，这个单词由ambre和gris（同gray，灰）组成。
Species of insects and plants have been found as fossils in this yellowish to brownish amber, and deeply colored, translucent pieces are used in making jewelry and ornamental objects. It is from the color of this resin that amber has come to refer to a dark orange yellow.
这种黄棕色的琥珀中间包裹着昆虫和植物化石，而颜色浓且透亮的琥珀可以制作珠宝和装饰品。人们因为琥珀的颜色而用amber来指代暗橘黄色。
gamboge [gæm'bəʊʒ]
藤黄
Gamboge, also spelled camboge, can be used to describe the vivid yellows of autumn. The name of the color refers to a gum resin from Southeast Asian trees that is used as a yellow pigment and as a purgative. The resin is orange to brown in color but when pulverized turns bright yellow.
Gamboge（藤黄色），也写作camboge，可用来形容秋天鲜艳的黄色。Gamboge指的是一种源自东南亚树木上的树脂胶。这种树脂胶可以制作黄色颜料和泻药，颜色介于橙色和棕色之间，但制成粉末后呈明黄色。
Gamboge is based on New Latin gambogium, an alteration of cambugium, which is either from or akin to the Portuguese name for the country of Cambodia, Camboja. Cambodia also happens to be one of the countries in which the trees producing gamboge are indigenous.
Gamboge的原型是现代拉丁语中的gambogium（cambugium的变型），这个单词和柬埔寨的葡萄牙语名Camboja非常相似，也可能就来源于此。而柬埔寨本土刚好就有这种树脂胶的树木。
scarlet ['skɑːlət]
猩红
Scarlet was not originally a word for a color but a name for a high-quality cloth, which is believed to have originated in Persia where it was called saqalāt. The word entered English via Anglo-French escarlet—a derivative of the Latin word for the cloth, scarlata—and became associated with bright red colors because the cloth was commonly dyed red.
Scarlet（猩红）本来不是表示颜色的词汇，而是一种优质布料的名称。这种名为saqalāt的布料原产自波斯。英语中的scarlet由诺曼时代英国所用法语中的escarlet演变而来。而escarlet就是这种布料的拉丁文单词scarlata的衍生词。由于这种布料通常被染成红色，scarlet也就和鲜艳的红色联系在一起。
Scarlet is a perfect descriptor for the bright reds of autumn.
用scarlet形容秋天的亮红色再恰当不过。
maroon [mə'ruːn]
栗色
Maroon as the name for a dark red color, derives from French marron, which is the Spanish name for a chestnut. The earliest examples in English of the word refer to the reddish-brown nut, with the color sense dating from the late-18th century.
Maroon指暗红色，源于法语单词marron（板栗的西班牙语名称）。英语中最早用maroon指代红棕色的板栗，而用其表示颜色可以追溯到18世纪末期。
auburn ['ɔːbən]
赤褐色
Prior to the 16th century, auburn would not have been an ideal word to describe an autumn color. It derives ultimately from the Latin word albus, meaning "white," and originally designated a yellowish or brownish white color.
16世纪以前，auburn还不是用来描述秋天颜色的理想词汇。Auburn最早来源于拉丁语单词albus，意思是“白色”，原本用来指代黄白色或米白色。
However, by the 16th century, the word's meaning shifted to goldish and reddish shades of brown. It seems variant spellings of the word, such as abrune, abroun, and abrown, that resembled Middle English brun, meaning "brown," brought on the color change.
然而，到16世纪时，auburn的词义变为金褐色和红褐色。这似乎是因为auburn的几种不同拼写，比如abrune，abroun和abrown与中世纪英语中的brun相似，而brun代表“棕色”。
lurid ['l(j)ʊərɪd]
淡黄色
The ghastly history of lurid makes it a fitting adjective for dying pale-yellow leaves. It is from luridus, the Latin word for such a color, and in the 17th century, it was used to describe the pale yellowish color of diseased or bruised skin.
Lurid（淡黄色）这个单词阴森的历史让它非常适合形容即将枯死的淡黄色树叶。它来自拉丁文单词luridus，指淡黄色。到17世纪时，lurid用来形容生病或受伤时蜡黄的肤色。
crimson ['krɪmz(ə)n] and carmine ['kɑːmaɪn]
绯红和洋红
Crimson and carmine, words for deep reds, are doublets from the same Arabic source. The color crimson is a deep purplish red that is found in a dye made from pulverized kermes, or the dried bodies of insects. The name of the color and of the insect has been traced back to qirmiz, the Arabic name for the insect. The word crimson entered English in the 15th century via Old Spanish cremesín.
Crimson（绯红）和carmine（洋红）代表的都是深红色，这两个同源异形词来自于同一个阿拉伯语词汇。Crimson（绯红）是一种深紫红色染料的颜色，该染料由胭脂虫粉或者风干的昆虫尸体粉末制成。这种颜色和昆虫的名字源于阿拉伯语单词qirmiz（这种昆虫的名字）。15世纪时，从古西班牙语单词cremesín演变出crimson一词。
In the 18th century, carmine arrived in English via French as a synonym of crimson.
18世纪时，人们将法语中的carmine引入英语，作为crimson的同义词。
英文来源：Merriam-Webster
翻译&编辑：董静
审校：许雅宁
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