فرفير

Disputed etymology:

• Deriving from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “murex; Tyrian purple color and dye”) which is expected to ultimately have a Semitic root likely from Phoenician. The medical sense derives from English purpura, from Latin, from the Greek.
• Natively from the root ف ر ف ر (f-r-f-r) or ف و ر (f-w-r) meaning “to shake or shake about”, “to agitate”, “to mangle or molest”, “to break or crush”, theoretically a cognate with the Phoenician term that πορφύρα (porphúra) derives from.
  • All in reference to the process in which the Tyrian dye is extracted from the Murex; the more time-consuming poking or shaking the snail into agitation or the faster, but depleting, method of crushing the shell.
  • Deriving from either root in the sense of "becoming agitated", as the changing of color and complexion is used idiomatically to denote changes in states or moods in Semitic Languages.

فِرْفِير • (firfīr) m

1. violet color
2. dark purple
3. (medicine) purpura

• فِرْفِيرِيّ (firfīriyy, “violet-colored”)

• Lane, Edward William (1863) “فرفير”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, page 2357