The scientific name for cuttlefish is Sepia, and the cuttlefish gave the color its name, not the other way around. The ancient Greeks used cuttlefish ink to write with, stabbing their nibs in dead cuttlefish’s ink sacs, producing the distinctive, almost translucent brown hue. Sepia has come to describe a color rather than a substance, and it is a color associated with the past, antique films and photographs all beige and discolored. When a cuttlefish’s ink is taken from its body, the resulting drawing or letter will always appear vintage and outdated, no matter how freshly drawn.
