albus

Albus, alba, album, first and second declension. Latin splits white in two. Albus is the dull white - matt, plain, unlit - while candidus is white that shines. The contrast is the entire point of a toga candida, the chalked and gleaming white worn by a man standing for office, which is where candidate comes from; albus does the humbler work of chalk, wool, bone and pale skin.

The neuter album meant a whitened board, and public notices, magistrates' edicts and lists of names were posted on one. That is why a list is an album, and why the record sleeve you file your music in carries the same word. English also took albumen, albino, alb, the white vestment, and Albion, the white cliffs.