Bole (color)

Bole is a shade of reddish brown. The color term derives from Latin bōlus (or dirt) and refers to a kind of soft fine clay whose reddish-brown varieties are used as pigments, and as a coating in panel paintings and frames underneath the paint or gold leaf. Under gold leaf, it "warms" the colour, which can have a greenish shade otherwise. However, bole in art is a good deal more red and less brown than the modern shade; it is often called Armenian bole. Although bole also means the trunk of a tree, these words are simply homographs that do not share an etymological origin.