Just wondering.., Rose-tinted glasses?

[mrph]

...sparked by a conversation last night, I've been idly trying to track down the source of the phrase.

Wikipedia is uncharacteristically unhelpful on this (redirect to optimism) - however, a few websites seem to state that it goes back to Victorian times and colour therapy, when patients suffering from depression would be given glasses with pink lenses...?

Not sure how reliable that is, though. Do any of you happen to know any more about it?

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

My gut reaction to such a question is to reach for my trusty Brewer (yup, an actual book made of actual paper!)

It isn't actually very helpful, though, and confines itself to commenting that "spectacles of such a hue would show the world as uniquely but misleadingly rosy, bright and hopefuly". It also says that the French call it "voir la vie en rose" (to see life in pink).

The OED has a 1917 citation for Mark Twain using "rose-tinted" to mean something favourable (he's talking about rose-tinted stock (as in stocks-and-shares)). No further info there, though, as far as I can see.

[ragnvaeig.livejournal.com]

My etymological dictionary says that "rose-coloured" referred to optimism as early as 1861, so maybe the Victorian colour therapy isn't too far off.

[purp1e-magic.livejournal.com]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3732/is_200101/ai_n8943223/?tag=content;col1

it's a 20 page article on the subject in question.

[mister-jack.livejournal.com]

The OED does not give an etymology for it, but the phrase dates back to the 1850s at least.