Rubriche

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a red earthy pigment ; a heading, direction or instruction set apart in red ink in an old book or liturgy
2. Old word for reddish ochre used as paint ; a red-marked caption or rule of procedure written in a manuscript or prayer book
3. A red mineral pigment of earlier usage ; an annotation or directive printed in red to stand out within a religious or legal text

Etymology: Before it meant a set of instructions, this word was a red pigment. It comes from Latin "rubrica", short for "rubrica terra", meaning "red earth" or red ochre, from "ruber", "red". Medieval scribes used that red ochre to write headings, chapter titles, and directions in manuscripts, so those passages stood out from the black main text. From there the meaning moved from colour to content. Liturgical books marked their ritual instructions in red, and "rubric" came to mean the rules governing how a service was to be performed. The English form "rubriche", with its final "e", belongs to late Middle English, when the word was first borrowed from Old French and Medieval Latin. Its meaning then widened to any authoritative rule or direction, and the colour that gave it its start survives mainly in the printing term for red-printed guidance.