2. rinn,N. All are agreed that this is properly what we now call purple—' color sanguinis con creti, nigricans aspectu, idemque suspectu refulgent' (Plin. H. N. ix. 38). The purple, ear' 46xnv, was the StpaOos or Tyrian purple, the dye of which was obtained from the murex Tyrius. It is sup posed by some that the reference is to this mollusk in Song vii. 5, where the hair of the bride is com pared to t1D.11:4, but it is probably to the colour of the hair as dark and lustrous that the allusion is. This word is frequently combined with the pre ceding, an additional evidence that the latter was not regarded as properly a purple.
3. 't4 ,nYSirl- These words mean literally worm of lustre, or bright worm (from Ar. to shine), and they are used to designate an insect, or species of woodlouse (coccus ilicis, Linn.), Which haunts the leaves of the ilex aculeata, from which the dye of the crimson was procured. The corresponding Greek name is thaws, and by this the LXX. in variably render it. The coccus is frequently called the Phoenician colour, because chiefly produced by the Phoenicians ; it was highly esteemed by the ancients, and was the colour adopted by men of high rank (Martial, Eprg. ii. 39, I ; iii. 2, II, etc.
Sueton. Dom?. 4. Comp. Gen. xxxviii. 28 ; Jer. iv. 3o ; Matt. xxvii. 28, etc.) Many of the fur nishings of the tabernacle, and some parts of the priests' clothing, were of this colour (Exod. xxviii. 5 ; xxxviii. r8 ; xxxix. fE; Num. iv. 8, etc.) Sometimes N:e, alone is used (Gen. xxxviii. 28-3o), and sometimes alone (Is. i. IS) for this colour. In the A. V. it is generally translated scarlet.
4. nqui. This word occurs Jet. xxii. 14 ; Ezek. xxiii. 14 ; in the former of which places it is rendered by the LXX. by taros, in the latter by That it was a dye of a red colour is cer tain, but opinions are divided between identifying it with red lead and with vermilion. As this colour was used in fresco paintings, it is probably the vermilion still discernible on the sculptures of the Assyrian palaces (Bonomi, Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 206).