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# Origin of the word miniature from Latin minium, the red paint used in manuscript books
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/poniatie-miniatiura-kak-ni-stranno-ne-sviazano-s-razmerom-i-slovo-proiskhodit-ne-ot-minimum-a-ot-latinskogo-minium-nazvaniia-krasnykh-krasok-chasto-ispolzuemykh-dlia-oformleniia-rukopis/
- Published: 2020-11-06T14:01:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:59:44.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Books, Observations

The notion of the miniature, oddly enough, has nothing to do with size, and the word derives not from minimum but from the Latin minium, the name of the red pigments often used in the decoration of manuscript books. In time the words miniature and miniature (as an adjective) came to stand for any small forms of art and, indeed, for things of small dimensions in general.