Although Calderon's comedy has received rather less attention than the other genres in which he excelled, it is widely acknowledged that his comic plays are inrivalled among his contemporaries in terms of plot structure and technical expertise; they also explore contemporary issues to an extent which has not been appreciated. "

This book offers a coherent representation of the etymology of historical and contemporary lexicalised idioms involving colour. The investigation covers idioms such as Grundonnerstag, Thursday of Holy Week', blau sein, to be drunk', rot sehen, to get angry', idioms from other languages, such as the Dutch Blauwboekjes, defamatory writings', the French conte blue, lie', loan translations such as blaues Blut from the Spanish sangre azul."