The term pseudo-cromesthesia comes from the Greek words pseudos (untruthfulness), chroma (colour), and aisthanesthai (to notice, to perceive). It translates roughly as 'a phoney type of colour perception'. The term was introduced in or shortly before 1892 by the American alienist William O. Krohn (1868-1922) as an alternative for the term colour audition (also known as * colour hearing). As Krohn explained, "The term 'color audition,' so commonly used, does not cover all the cases, for there are instances... in which individuals have these pseudo sensations of color when they see words, but not when they hear them enunciated."
References
Krohn, W.O. (1892). Pseudo-cromesthesia, or the association of colors with words, letters and sounds. American Journal of Psychology,5, 20-41.
Dictionary of Hallucinations. J.D. Blom. 2010.