A very interesting question

Eggplant.

Probably the colour, I imagine. I bet someone discovered that looking directly at the sun was painful before they found an orange tree.

I would say the fruit. And afterward when they saw something the same shade as an orange they would have said it had the colour of an orange.

The fruit. Words for concrete objects come first, then we associate abstract concepts like color with them. The same thing has happened with other colors, like lime and terracotta.

Well,

It has a good beat and it's easy to dance to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_(colour)

The word comes from the Old French orenge, from the old term for the fruit, pomme d'orenge. That name comes from the Arabic naranj, through the Persian naranj, derived from the sanskrit naranga.[3]

Before this word was introduced to the English-speaking world, the colour was referred to as ġeolurēad (yellow-red).

I suppose if it had been called a rēadġeolu (red-yellow) then the fruit would now be called Rouge? Give me some rouge juice please.

My favorite is grapefruit. They look and taste nothing like a grape.

Maryn said:

Yeah, I'm headed for Florida, when I'm going to have fresh-squeezed yellow-red every morning.

I can see the need for its own color name.

Maryn, still chuckling over Laverne's comment

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Funny thing is, if that were the name for it still, we wouldn't bat an eye. "Yeah, whatever, it's a yellow-red, big deal. "