Editing Brown (section)

== Etymology ==
The term is from [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|brún}}, in origin for any dusky or dark shade of color. The first recorded use of ''brown'' as a color name in English was in 1000.<ref>first attested in ''The [[Metres of Boethius]]'' 26. 58, ca. AD 1000: ''stunede sio brune yd wid odre'' "One dark wave dashed against the other".</ref><ref>Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color''. New York:1930 McGraw-Hill, p. 191</ref>
The [[Common Germanic]] adjectives ''*brûnoz and *brûnâ'' meant both dark colors and a glistening or shining quality, whence ''[[Burnishing (metal)|burnish]]''. The current meaning developed in [[Middle English]] from the 14th century.<ref>''His hare [was] like to the nute brun, quen it for ripnes fals dun'' "his hair was like the nut brown, when for ripeness it falls down", Cursor M. 18833, ca. AD 1300, cited after [[OED]].</ref>

Words for the color brown around the world often come from foods or beverages; in the eastern Mediterranean, the word for brown often comes from the color of coffee: in Turkish, the word for brown is {{lang|tr|kahverengi}}; in Greek, {{lang|el-Latn|kafé}}.
In Portuguese, Spanish and French, the word for brown or for a specific shade of brown is derived from the word for chestnut (''castanea'' in Latin). In Southeast Asia, the color name often comes from chocolate: {{lang|id|coklat}} in Malay; {{lang|fil|tsokolate}} in Filipino. In Japan, the word {{lang|ja-Latn|chairo}} means the color of tea.<ref>[http://www.omniglot.com/language/colours/] Omniglot- words for colors in different languages.</ref>