COLOUR, in Heraldry. The colours generally used in heraldry are, red, blue, black, green, and purple, which the heralds call gules, azure, sable, vert or sinople, and purpure; tene or tawny, and sanguine, are not so common; and as to yellow and white, called or and argent, they are metals, not colours.
The metals and colours are sometimes expressed in blazon by the names of precious stones, and sometimes by those of planets or stars.
Enomous is said first to have invented the distinctions of colours, to distinguish the gundillie of combatants at the Circensian games; the green for those who represented the earth, and the blue for those who represented the sea.