Ripolinn.

Etymology: < Dutch Ripolin (although this is apparently first attested slightly later than the name of the paint is in English contexts: 1890 or earlier), probably < the name of Carl J. F. Riep (1835–98), Prussian-born chemist and technical director of various paint factories in Haarlem, Ouder Amstel, and Hilversum, Holland + -o- -o- connective + an element of uncertain origin (see below). Compare French Ripolin (1897 or earlier; < Dutch).The origin of the ending of the name is uncertain. Suggestions include that it may represent French lin or its etymon classical Latin līnum flax (for both, see line n.¹; compare huile de lin linoleum, and also linoleum n.), or that it may be from Lin- in Lina, the pet form of the forename of Carl Riep's second wife Caroline. The name of the paint, which is attested in Dutch advertisements from 1890 onwards, was probably coined by Otto Wilhelm Briegleb, a German-born Dutch businessman, who in 1890 took over a paint company in Hilversum. Briegleb already owned another paint factory in Haarlem, of which Riep was technical director. Together, Briegleb and Riep had unsuccessfully tried in 1890 to set up yet another paint factory in Ouder Amstel, dedicated to the production of enamel paint. After Carl Riep's death in 1898, his eldest son Frits (1867–1957), also a chemist, succeeded him as technical director of the company. In 1897 the company set up a branch in Paris, under the official name Le Ripolin: société anonyme française de peintures, laques et d'enduits sous-marins, Lefranc et Briegleb reunis; advertisements for the paint are found in French texts from at least the same year. O.E.D. Suppl. (1982) gives only the non-naturalized pronunciation (ripolæṅ) /ripɔlã/.