From Greek 'phoinix' (φοῖνιξ) — a word meaning simultaneously 'the mythical bird,' 'crimson-purple,' and 'Phoenician.' The bird was named for its fiery colour, the Phoenicians for their purple dye trade, and all three senses may trace back to the Egyptian Bennu bird of solar rebirth.
A mythical bird that cyclically burns itself to death and is reborn from its own ashes; figuratively, something that is reborn or renewed after apparent destruction.
From Latin 'phoenix', from Greek 'phoinix' (φοῖνιξ), a word with three tangled meanings: (1) the mythical bird, (2) the colour purple-red or crimson, and (3) a Phoenician person. All three senses appear to derive from the same root. The Greeks called the Phoenicians 'Phoinikes' — probably meaning 'the purple people' — because they were famous for producing
The word 'phoenix' connects a mythical bird, a colour, and an entire civilization. The Greeks called the Phoenicians 'the purple people' because of their monopoly on Tyrian purple dye — extracted at enormous cost from murex sea snails (12,000 snails for 1.5 grams of dye). The bird was named for the same