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In many languages, the colors described in English as "blue" and "green" arecolexified, i.e., expressed using a singleumbrella term. To render this ambiguous notion in English, linguists use theblend wordgrue, fromgreen andblue,[1] a term coined by the philosopherNelson Goodman—with an unrelated meaning—in his 1955Fact, Fiction, and Forecast to illustrate his "new riddle of induction".
The exact definition of "blue" and "green" may be complicated by the speakers not primarily distinguishing the hue, but using terms that describe other color components such as saturation and luminosity, or other properties of the object being described. For example, "blue" and "green" might be distinguished, but a single term might be used for both if the color is dark. Furthermore, green might be associated with yellow, and blue with either black or gray.
According toBrent Berlin andPaul Kay's 1969 studyBasic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution, distinct terms forbrown,purple,pink,orange, andgray will not emerge in a language until the language has made a distinction between green and blue. In their account of the development of color terms the first terms to emerge are those forwhite/black (orlight/dark),red/blue andgreen/yellow.[2]
The word for blue in theAmazigh (Berber) language isazerwal. In some dialects ofAmazigh, likeShilha orKabyle, the wordazegzaw is used for both green and blue. It is likely cognate with the English wordazure, which represents the color between blue and cyan.[citation needed]
The color of the sky is sometimes referred to as "the green" in some dialects of Classical Arabic poetry, in which it isal-khaḍrā' (الخضراء). InArabic the word for blue isazraq (أزرق). The Arabic word for green isakhḍar (أخضر).
InMoroccan Arabic, the word for light blue isšíbi, whereaszraq (زرق) stands for blue andkhḍar (خضر) for green. The wordzrag (زرڭ) is used to describe the color ofa suffocated person, and is also used pejoratively as a synonym to "dumb, stupid".[citation needed]
The ancientEgyptian wordwadjet covered the range of blue, blue-green, and green. It was the name of a goddess, the patroness of Lower Egypt, represented as a cobra calledWadjet, "the green one", or as theEye of Horus, also called by the same name. At the same time,wedjet was the word used forEgyptian blue in faience ceramics.
In Hebrew, the wordכחול (pronounced[kaˈχol]) means blue, whileירוק ([jaˈʁok]) means green and has the sameroot,י־ר־ק (j-r-q), as the word for "vegetables" (ירקות,[jeʁaˈkot]). However, in classical Hebrew,ירוק can mean both green and yellow, giving rise to such expressions asירוק כרישה 'leek green' (Tiberian Hebrew[jɔːˈroːqkəriː'ʃɔː]) to specify green to the exclusion of yellow. Like Russian and Italian, Hebrew has a separate name for light blue (תכלת,tekhelet)—the color of the sky and oftzitzit on thetallit, a ritual garment. This color hasspecial symbolic significance in bothJudaism and Jewish culture.[3]
TheChoctaw language has two words,okchʋko andokchʋmali, which have different meanings depending on the source. In 1852okchakko is translated variously as pale blue or pale green,okchakko chohmi'somewhat okchakko' is given as swarthy, andokchamali is defined as deep blue, gray, green, or sky blue.[4] In 1880,okchakko andokchʋmali are both given as blue, and green is not specifically listed as a color.[5] In an 1892 dictionary,okchamali is deep blue or green,okchakko is pale blue or bright green, and a third wordkili̱koba is bright green (resembling akili̱kki, a species of parrot).[6] By 1915, the authoritative Byington dictionary givesokchako as blue andokchamali as green, blue, gray, verdant.[7] A coursebook from 2001 differentiates based on brightness, givingokchʋko as bright blue/green andokchʋmali as pale or dull blue/green.[8] Modern usage in theChoctaw Nation of Oklahoma language school is to useokchʋko for blue andokchʋmali for green, with no distinction for brightness.[citation needed]
The language of theKanien'kehá:ka Nation atAkwesasne is at Stage VII on theBerlin–Kay Scale, and possesses distinct terms for a broad range ofspectral and nonspectral colors such asoruía'blue',óhute'green',kahúji'black',karákA'white', andatakArókwa'gray'. According to one researcher, the Kanien'kehá:ka term for purple isarihwawakunéha, which translates to'bishop['s color]', a recent, post-Christianization coinage.[9] The way in which purple was categorized and referenced prior to the addition of the latter term is not clear.
In theLakota language, the wordtȟó is used for both blue and green, though the wordtȟózi (a mixture of the wordstȟó'blue (green)', andzí'yellow') has become common (zítȟo can also be used). This is in line with common practice of usingzíša/šázi for orange (šá meaning'red'), andšátȟo/tȟóša for'purple/violet'.[10]
Mapudungun, spoken by indigenous peoples of Chile and Argentina, distinguishes betweenkurü'black',kallfü'blue' andkarü'green, raw, immature'. The wordpayne was formerly used to refer to a sky blue, and also refers to the bluish color of stones.[11]
Single words for blue/green are also found inMayan languages; for example, in theYucatec Maya language,yax is'blue/green'.
Tupian languages did not originally differ between the two colors, though they may now as a result of interference of Spanish (in the case ofGuaraní) or Portuguese (in the case ofNheengatu). TheTupi wordoby/ɔˈβɨ/ meant both, as does theGuaraníhovy/hɔʋɨ/. In modern Tupi (Nheengatu) the wordsuikiri can be used for green andiakira/akira for blue. However,iakira/akira also means immature, as inpakua akira'green banana/immature banana', andsuikiri can also mean blue. In modernGuarani, the wordhovy is used for blue andhovy'û (which literally means "dark green/blue") is used for green. The wordaky, which is cognate with Nheengatuakira, also means'green/immature'.
Speakers ofTagalog most commonly use theSpanishloanwords for blue and green—asul (from Spanishazul) andberde (from Spanishverde), respectively. Although these words are much more common in spoken use, Tagalog has native terms:bugháw for blue andlunti(án) for green, which are seen as archaic and more flowery. These are mostly confined to formal and academic writings, alongside artistic fields such literature, music, and poetry.
InCebuano, another majorPhilippine language, the native words for "blue" and "green" end in the same syllable:pughaw andlunhaw, respectively.Pughaw means sky blue, whilelunhaw is fresh leaf green (i.e., neither brownish nor yellowish).
Humor and jokes of a sexual or derogatory nature that would otherwise be described as "blue" in English (e.g., "blue comedy", "blue joke") are called "green" inPhilippine English. This is acalque of theHispanic termchiste verde.
Modern Javanese has distinct words for bluebiru and greenijo.[12] These words are derived fromOld Javanesebirū andhijo.[13] However, in Old Javanesebirū could mean pale blue, grayish blue, greenish blue, or even turquoise, whilehijo which means green, could also mean the blue-green color of clear water. This concept ofbirū as 'grue' can also be seen in the neighboring language ofMadurese, wherebhiru means both 'blue' and 'green'.[14] In contemporary use, the word 'green' can be distinguished frombhiru by using the termbhiru dâun 'leaf grue'.[15]Biru andijo in Modern Javanese are cognates ofMalay/Indonesianbiru andhijau which both have the same meaning.
Māori spoken before contact with Europeans did not distinguish between blue and green, using the wordnamu (e.g. inpounamu) for both, while words describing greenery in vegetation (e.g.ota,mata) or birds (kākāriki) were dominant in 19th century dictionaries. Descriptions of the new Anglocentric "blue" was developed in association with the sky (rangi; e.g.kikorangi andkahurangi), while darker hues are perceived closer to black likepako (variant ofpango) anduriuri.[16]
TheKannada language distinguishes between blue (neeliನೀಲಿ), green (hasiruಹಸಿರು) and yellow (haladiಹಳದಿ). The prefixkadu- (ಕಡು-) would indicate darker colors while the prefixtili- (ತಿಳಿ-) would indicate light colors. Thuskaduneeli (ಕಡುನೀಲಿ) would mean dark/deep blue, whiletilineeli (ತಿಳಿನೀಲಿ) would mean light blue.
TheTamil language distinguishes between the colorsபச்சைpaccai'green',நீலம்nīlam'blue', andகருப்புkaruppu'black'. The prefixkaru- would indicate dark colors while the prefixiḷam- would indicate light colors. Thus,கரும்பச்சைkarumpaccai would be dark green whileஇளம்பச்சைilampaccai would be light green
TheTelugu language uses a single word,పచ్చpacca, for green and yellow. To differentiate between the two shades, another word is prefixed in some cases. For example, green will be calledఆకుపచ్చākupacca'leaf-pacca' and yellowపసుపుపచ్చpasupupacca'turmeric-pacca'.
InMalayalam, there are distinct words for blue (nīlaനീല), green (paccaപച്ച) and yellow (maññaമഞ്ഞ).
The modernStandard Chinese language has the blue–green distinction (藍lán for blue and綠lǜ for green); however, another word that predates the modern vernacular,qīng (青),[17] is also used in many contexts. Thecharacter depicts the budding of a young plant and it could be understood as "verdant", but the word is used to describe colors ranging from light and yellowish green through deep blue all the way to black, as inxuánqīng(玄青). For example, theflag of the Republic of China is referred to asqīng tiān, bái rì, mǎn dì hóng (青天，白日，滿地紅,'A Blue Sky, White Sun, and Wholly Red Earth') whereasqīngcài(青菜) is the Chinese word for "green vegetable", referring tobok choy, and the opposing sides of the gameliubo were known asqīng and white in antiquity[18] despite using black and white pieces.Qīng was the traditional designation of both blue and green for much of the history of the Chinese language, whilelán originally referred to thedye of theindigo plant.[19] However,lǜ as a particular 'shade' ofqīng applied to cloth and clothing[20] has been attested since theBook of Odes (1000–600 BC), as in the title of Ode 27(《邶風·綠衣》, "Green Upper Garment") in theAirs of Bei section. After the discarding ofClassical Chinese in favor of modernvernacular Chinese, the modern terms for blue and green are now more commonly used thanqīng as standalone color terms, althoughqīng is still part of many common noun phrases. The two forms can also be encountered combined as青藍 and青綠, withqīng being used as anintensifier. In modern scientific contexts,[citation needed]qīng refers tocyan as a narrow range of color in between blue and green, and the modern color names are used when referring to other shades of blue or of green.
| #5B8930 | 萌黄Moegi'Fresh Onion', listed with yellow |
| #6B9362 | 若竹色Wakatake-iro'Young bamboo color', listed with blue |
The Japanese words青 (ao;n.) and青い (aoi;adj.), the samekanji character as the Chineseqīng, can refer to either blue or green depending on the situation. ModernJapanese has a word for green (緑,midori), but it is a relatively recent usage.[citation needed] Ancient Japanese did not have this distinction: the wordmidori came into use only in theHeian period and, at that time and for a long time thereafter,midori was still considered a shade ofao.[citation needed] Educational materials distinguishing green and blue came into use only afterWorld War II;[21] thus, even though most Japanese consider them to be green, the wordao is still used to describe certainvegetables,apples, andvegetation.Ao is also the word used to refer to the color on atraffic light that signals drivers to "go". However, most other objects—a greencar, a greensweater, etc.—will generally be calledmidori. Japanese people also sometimes use the wordgurīn (グリーン), based on the English word "green", for colors. The language also has several other words meaning specific shades of green and blue.
The nativeKorean word푸르다 (pureuda) explicitly refers to blue, but can also mean either green, or bluish green. These adjectives푸르다 are used for blue as in푸른 하늘 (pureun haneul'blue sky'), or for green as in푸른 숲 (pureun sup'green forest').푸른 (pureun) is a noun-modifying form. Another word파랗다 (parata) usually means blue, but sometimes it also means green, as in파란 불 (paran bul'green light of a traffic light'). There are Sino-Korean expressions that refer to green and blue.초록/草綠 (chorokadj./n.),초록색/草綠色 (choroksaekn. or for short,녹색/綠色noksaekn.) is used for green.Cheong청/靑, another expression borrowed from Chinese (靑), is mostly used for blue, as in청바지/靑바지 (cheongbaji'blue jeans') andCheong Wa Dae (청와대/靑瓦臺), theBlue House, which is the former executive office and official residence of the President of the Republic of Korea, but is also used for green as well, as in청과물/靑果物 (cheonggwamul'fruits and vegetables') and청포도/靑葡萄 (cheongpodo'green grape').
InTibetan,སྔོན་པོ། (Wyliesngon po) is the term traditionally given for the color of the sky and of grass.[22] This term also falls into the general pattern of naming colors by appending the suffixpo, as inmar po'red',ser po'yellow',nag po'black', anddkar po'white'. Conspicuously, the term for'green' isljang khu, likely related toljang bu, and defined as—"the grue (sngon po) sprout of wheat or barley".[23]
Vietnamese used to colexify green and blue with the wordxanh. This is a colloquial rendering ofthanh靑, as with Chinese and Japanese. In modern usage, blue and green aredislexified. Shades of blue are specifically described asxanh da trời'blue skin of sky', orxanh dương, xanh nước biển,'blue of ocean'. Green is described asxanh lá cây'green leaves'.
Vietnamese occasionally employs the termsxanh lam'blue' andxanh lục'green' in which the second syllables is derived from the Chinese:藍 and綠 respectively, sometimes skipping the syllablexanh, for blue and green, respectively, in formal or scientific speech.Xanh can also be used singularly for any color that is the shade in between blue and green inclusively.
Modern Mongolian makes a distinction between green (ногоон,nogoon) and blue, which has separate categories for light blue (цэнхэр,tsenher) and dark blue (хөх,höh). Historically, Mongolian included greens such as fresh grass in thehöh category,[24] andnogoon became a more common term in the modern era.
Albanian has two major words for "blue":kaltër refers to a light blue, such as that of the sky, but it is derived from Vulgar Latincalthinus, itself derived fromcaltha, a loan from Ancient Greek that meant "marigold" a small and in fact yellow flower.[25][26] The other word,blu, refers to a darker shade of blue, and like many similar words across many European languages, derives ultimately from Germanic (see also: Italianblu). There is a separate word for green,gjelbër, which derives from the Latingalbinus, which originally meant "yellow" (cf. Germangelb); the original Latin word for green on the other hand,viridis is the source of the Albanian word for "yellow",verdhë.[27] Albanian also has a borrowed word for green,jeshil, from Turkishyeşil; it tends to be used for non-natural greens (such as traffic signals) in contrast togjelbër.
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Latvian has separate words for greenzaļš and bluezils. Bothzils andzaļš stem from the same Proto-Indo-European word for yellow (*ghel). Several other words in Latvian have been derived from these colors, namely grass is calledzāle (fromzaļš), while the name for iris iszīlīte (fromzils).
The now archaic wordmēļš was used to describe both dark blue and black (probably indicating that previouslyzils was used only for lighter shades of blue). For instance, blueberries are calledmellenes.
In Latvian, black ismelns (in some local dialectsmells).
In Lithuanian,žalias is green,mėlynas is blue, andžilas is gray (hair) or grizzled.
Bulgarian, aSouth Slavic language, makes a clear distinction between blue (синьо,sinyo), green (зелено,zeleno), and black (черно,cherno).
In thePolish language, blue (niebieski, fromniebo'sky') and green (zielony) are treated as separate colors. The word forsky blue orazure—błękitny—might be considered either a basic color or ashade of blue by different speakers. Similarly dark blue ornavy blue (granatowy—deriving from the name ofpomegranate (granat), somecultivars of which are dark purplish blue in color) can be considered by some speakers as a separate basic color. Black (czarny) is completely distinguished from blue. As in English, Polish distinguishes pink (różowy) from red (czerwony).
The wordsiwy means blue-gray in Polish (literally: "color of gray hair"). The wordsiny refers to violet-blue and is used to describe the color of bruises (siniaki),hematoma, and the blue skin discoloration that can result from moderatehypothermia.
Russian has several words referring to the range of colors denoted by the English term "blue". It traditionally treats light blue (голубой,goluboy) as a separate color independent from plain or dark blue (синий,siniy), with all seven "basic" colors of the spectrum (red–orange–yellow–green–голубой/goluboy (sky blue, light azure, butdoes not equalcyan)–синий/siniy ("true" deepblue, like syntheticultramarine)–violet) while in English the light blues like azure and cyan are considered mere shades of "blue" and not different colors. The Russian word for "green" isзелёныйzielioniy. To better understand this, consider that English makes a similar distinction between "red" and light red (pink, which is considered a different color and not merely a kind of red), but such a distinction is unknown in several other languages; for example, both "red" (紅hóng, traditionally called赤), and "pink" (粉紅fěn hóng, lit. "powder red") have traditionally been considered varieties of a single color inChinese. The Russian language also distinguishes between red (красныйkrasniy) and pink (розовыйrozoviy).
Similarly, English language descriptions of rainbows have often distinguished between blue orturquoise[28] andindigo,[29] the latter of which is often described as dark blue orultramarine.[30]
TheSerbo-Croatian color system makes a distinction between blue, green and black:
Modra may also mean dark blue and dark purple that are used to describe colours of a bruise,modrica. Native speakers cannot pinpoint a color on the spectrum which would correspond tomodra.[citation needed]
Sinje, cognate to Bulgarianсиньоsinyo and Russianсинийsiniy, is archaic; the term denotes blue-gray, usually used to describe dark seas.
Turquoise is usually described astirkizna, and similarly, azure will use a loan wordazurna. There is no specific word for cyan. Blond hair is calledplava'blue', reflecting likely the archaic use ofplav for any bright white/blue colors (like the sky).
Mrko'dusky' can refer either dark brown, less often dark gray, or even black. It is etymologically derived from the word for'darkness' (mrak), but is distinct from'dark' (tamna). For instance, it is used to describe thebrown bear (mrki medved/medvjed).Smeđe andkestenjasto refer to brown,crveno means red,ružičasto is for pink andnarančasto designates orange.
Shades are defined with a prefix (e.g.,tamno- for dark, orsvetlo-/svijetlo- for light), for example, dark blue istamnoplavo.
TheSlovene language distinguishes among blue, green and black
Although the blue and green color are not strictly defined, so Slovene speakers cannot point to a certain shade of blue or green, but rather the whole spectrum of blue and green shades, there is a distinction between light and dark hues of these colors, which is described with prefixessvetlo- (light) andtemno- (dark).
Transient hues between blue and green are mostly described aszeleno moder ormodro zelen, sometimes asturkizen (turquoise). Transient hues between green and yellow (rumena) are described asrumeno zelen orzeleno rumen.
TheWelsh, Cornish, and Breton wordglas is usually translated as 'blue'; however, it can also refer, variously, to the color of the sea, of grass, or of silver (cf. Ancient Greekγλαυκός). The wordgwyrdd (a borrowing from Latinviridis) is the standard translation for 'green'. In traditionalWelsh (and related languages),glas could refer to certain shades of green and gray as well as blue, andllwyd could refer to various shades of gray and brown. Perhaps under the influence of English, Modern Welsh is trending toward the11-color Western scheme, restrictingglas to 'blue' and usinggwyrdd for 'green',llwyd for 'gray' andbrown for 'brown', respectively. However, the more traditional usage is still heard today in the Welsh word for 'grass' (glaswellt orgwelltglas), and in fossilized expressions such ascaseg las 'gray mare',tir glas 'green land',papur llwyd 'brown paper' and even red for 'brown' insiwgwr coch 'brown sugar'.
InModern Irish andScottish Gaelic, the word for 'blue' isgorm (whence the nameCairngorm mountains derives) – a borrowing from the now obsolete Early Welsh wordgwrm 'dark blue, dusky'. A relic of the original meaning 'dusky, dark brown' survives in the Irish termdaoine gorma 'Black people'.
InOld andMiddle Irish, like in Welsh,glas was a blanket term for colors ranging from green to blue to various shades of gray (e.g., theglas of a sword, theglas of stone). In Modern Irish, it has come to mean both various shades of green, with specific reference to plant hues, and gray (like the sea), respectively; shades of green not related to plants would be referred to in Modern Irish asuaine oruaithne, whileliath is gray proper (like a stone).
Scottish Gaelic uses the termuaine for 'green'. However, the dividing line between it andgorm is somewhat different than between the English "green" and "blue", withuaine signifying a light green or yellow-green, andgorm extending from dark blue (what in English might be navy blue) to include the dark green or blue-green of vegetation. Grass, for instance, isgorm, rather thanuaine. In addition,liath covers a range from light blue to light gray. However, the term for a green apple, such as a Granny Smith, would beubhal glas.
The boundary between colors varies much more than the "focal point": e.g. an island known inBreton asEnez c'hlas 'the blue island' isl'Île Verte 'the green island' in French, in both cases referring to the grayish-green color of its bushes, even though both languages distinguish green from blue.
The Romance terms for "green" (Catalanverd, Frenchvert, Galician, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanishverde) are all from Latinviridis. The terms for "blue", on the other hand, vary: Catalanblau, Occitanblau, Frenchbleu and Italianblu come from a Germanic root, the Spanish, Galician and Portugueseazul is likely to come from Arabic, whereas the Romanianalbastru is of Latin origin, originating fromalabaster.[32] Frenchbleu was in turn loaned into many other languages, including English. Latin itself did not have a word covering all shades of blue, which may help explain these borrowings. It did, however, recognisecaeruleus (dark blue, sometimes greenish), andlividus (grayish blue, like lead).
French, as most Romance languages, makes roughly the same distinctions as English and has a specific term for each of blue ("bleu"), green ("vert") and gray ("gris"). For all three, different shades can be indicated with different (compound) terms, none of them being considered as basic color terms: "bleuclair" (light blue), "bleuciel" (sky blue), "bleumarine" (Navy blue), "bleuroi" (royal blue); "vert clair" (light green), "vertpomme" (literally: apple green); "grisanthracite" (deep gray), "grissouris" (literally: "mouse gray"). French also uses "azur" for the lighter shade of blue of the sunny sky, that was in turn loaned to English as "azure".
Catalan distinguishes blue (blau) from green (verd) and gray (gris). Other basic or common colors by its own right areporpra "purple",groc "yellow",carbassa ortaronja "orange",vermell "red",rosa "pink",marró "brown",gris "gray",negre "black" andblanc "white". For all these colors except black and white it is possible to indicate different shades usingclar "light" andfosc "dark"; for blue, though, it generally isblau cel "sky blue" andblau marí "sea blue". Other words and compounds are common to indicate more elaborated shades (verd llimona "lemon green",rosa pàl·lid "pale pink",lila "lilac",granat "carmine",ocre "ocher",verd oliva "olive green", etc.). Catalan actually distinguishes two reds with different and common words: whilevermell refers to the color of blood,roig is a red tending towards yellow or the color of clay.[33]
Italian distinguishes blue (blu), green (verde) and gray (grigio). There are also common words for light blue (e.g. the color of the cloudless sky):azzurro andceleste, and other for darker shades, e.g.indaco, indigo.Azzurro, the equivalent of the Englishazure, is usually considered a separate basic color rather than a shade ofblu (similar to the distinction in English between red and pink). Some sources even go to the point of definingblu as a darker shade ofazzurro.[34]Celeste literally means '(the color) of the sky' and can be used as synonym ofazzurro, although it will more often be considered a less saturated hue.[35][36]acquamarina (aquamarine) literally "sea water", indicates an even lighter, almost transparent, shade of blue. To indicate a mix of green and blue, Italians might sayverdeacqua, literallywater green. The termglauco, not common in standard Italian and perceived as a literary term, is used in scientific contexts (esp. botany) to indicate a mix of blue, green and gray.[37] Other similar terms areceruleo andturchese (turquoise/teal); they are more saturated hues (especially turchese) and differ in context of use: the first is a literary or bureaucratic term (used for example to indicate light green eyes in identity cards); the second is more common in any informal speech, along with the variantturchino (for instance, the fairy ofThe Adventures of Pinocchio is calledfata turchina).
InPortuguese, the word "azul" means blue and the word "verde" means green. Furthermore, "azul-claro" means light-blue, and "azul-escuro" means dark-blue. More distinctions can be made between several hues of blue. For instance, "azul-celeste" means sky blue, "azul-marinho" means navy-blue and "azul-turquesa" means turquoise-blue. One can also make the distinction between "verde-claro" and "verde-escuro", meaning light and dark-green respectively, and more distinctions between several qualities of green: for instance, "verde-oliva" means olive-green and "verde-esmeralda" means emerald-green.Cyan is usually called "azul-celeste" (sky blue) and "verde-água", meaning water green.
Romanian clearly distinguishes between the colors green (verde) and blue (albastru). It also uses separate words for different hues of the same color, e.g. light blue (bleu), blue (albastru), dark-blue (bleu-marin orbleomarin), along with a word for turquoise (turcoaz) and azure (azur orazuriu).
Similarly to French, Romanian, Italian and Portuguese,Spanish distinguishes blue (azul) and green (verde) and has an additional term for the tone of blue visible in the sky, namely "celeste", which is nonetheless considered a shade of blue.
InOld Norse, the wordblár'blue' (fromproto-Germanic*blēwaz) was also used to describeblack (and the common word for people of African descent was thusblámenn'blue/black men'). InSwedish,blå, the modern word for blue, was used this way until the early 20th century, and it still is to a limited extent in modernFaroese.
German and Dutch distinguish blue (respectivelyblau andblauw) and green (grün andgroen), very similarly to English. There are (compound) terms for light blue (hellblau andlichtblauw) and darker shades of blue (dunkelblau anddonkerblauw). In addition, adjective forms of most traditional color names are inflected to match the corresponding noun's case and gender.
The words for "blue" and "green" completely changed in the transition fromAncient Greek toModern Greek.
Ancient Greek hadγλαυκός (glaukós) "clear light blue" contrasting withχλωρός (khlōrós) "bright green"; for darker shades of both colors,γλαυκός andχλωρός were replaced byκυανός (kuanós), meaning either a "dark blue or green". The words had more than one modern meaning: in addition to "clear light blue",γλαυκός also meant "turquoise" and "teal-green" – it was the typical description of the color of the goddessAthena's eyes, portrayed as either gray or light blue. As well as "bright green",χλωρός was also used for "acid yellow" (compare "chlorophyll"). Furthermore,κυανός not only meant "turquoise" and "teal-green", but could mean either a "dark blue" or "dark green" or just "blue" (adopted into English as "cyan" for light sky-blue).
Those terms changed inByzantine Greek as seen from the insignia colors of two ofConstantinople's rival popular factions:Πράσινοι (Prasinoi, "the Greens") andBένετοι (Venetoi, "the Blues"). It is not known if those groups' names influenced the word change or if they were named using the new color terms, but whichever way it went,πράσινος (prásinos) is a Modern Greek word for "green".
The ancient term for blue (γλαυκός) has become an archaic term in Modern Greek, replaced byγαλάζιος (galázios) orθαλασσής (thalassís, "sea colored") for light blue / sea blue, and the recent indeclinable loan-wordμπλε (ble, from Frenchbleu;μπ =b) is used for blue.
In the Modern Greek language, there are names for light and dark blues and greens inaddition to those discussed above:
| Modern Greek | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|
| τυρκουάζ | tyrkouáz | turquoise |
| κυανός | kyanós | azure (oldκυανός; see above) |
| λαχανί | lachaní ("cabbage colored") | lime green |
| λαδής | ladís | olive green |
| χακί | chakí | darkkhaki |
| κυπαρισσί | kyparissí ("cypress colored") | brownish green[citation needed] |
As a rule, the first two words of the list are accepted as shades of blue, and the rest as shades of green. Alsoβιολέ (violé) /βιολετί (violetí) for violet blue (which is, however, usually considered as a shade of purple, rather than blue).
Ossetian has only one word for blue, light blue and green—цъæхtsəh, which also means "gray" and "glaucous"—but it also has a separate word for green,кæрдæгхуызkərdəghuɨz, literally "grassy" (fromкæрдæг'grass'). The latter derives fromкæрдынkərdɨn'to mow' (like in GermanHeu (hau) <hauen'to mow').
Ossetian also has separate words for the following colors:
Pashto uses the wordshīn to denote blue as well as green.Shinkay, a word derived fromshīn, means 'greenery' butshīn āsmān means 'blue sky'. One way to disambiguate is to ask "Shīn like the sky? Orshīn like plants?" (Blue and green are however distinguished using different words in the eastern parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, due to contact with other languages.)
Kurdish has two words for 'blue', namely شینşîn and کەویkewî. Another word,şinahî, means 'green', e.g. for plants and grass.
Persian words for blue includeآبیābi (literally the color of water, fromāb'water'), for blue generally;نیلیnili (fromnil, 'indigo dye'), for deeper shades of blue such as the color of rain clouds;فیروزهfayruzeh 'turquoise stone', used to describe the color of blue eyes;لاجوردیlājvardi orلاژوردیlāzhvardi 'lapis lazuli color', source of the words lazuli and azure;نیلوفریnilufari 'water lily color'; andکبودkabud, an old literary word for 'blue'.
The Persian word for green isسبزsabz. As inSudan, dark-skinned people may be described as "green".
The color of the sky is variously described inPersian poetry using the wordssabz,fayruzeh,nil,lājvardi, ornilufari— literally "green", "indigo", "turquoise", "azure" or "the color of water lilies". For example,sabz-ākhor "green stable",sabz-āshyāneh "green ceiling",sabz-ayvān "green balcony", andsabz-tā'us "green peacock" are poetic epithets for the sky—in addition to similar compounds using the words for blue, e.g.,lājvardi-saqf "lapis lazuli-colored roof" orfayruzeh-tasht "turquoise bowl". Moreover, the words for green of Arabic originاخضرakhzar andخضراkhazrā are used for epithets of the sky or heaven, such ascharkh-e akhzar "green wheel".[38]
Chinalbashe (an unclassified Indo-Aryan language) &Chambyali (aWestern Pahari language) have the same term for blue & green, i.e.,Takri:𑚝𑚯𑚥𑚭 ISO:nīlā.[39][40]
OtherIndo-Aryan languages distinguish blue from green. In Urdu, blue isنیلاnīlā and green isسبزsabz. There are some names of shades of blue as well, likeفیروزیferozī'turquoise'.InHindi, blue isनीलाnīlā and green isहराharā. InMarathi, blue isनिळाniḽā and green isहिरवाhiravā. InBengali, blue isনীলnīl and green isসবুজsabuj.
InYoruba, there are only three fundamental terms for colors, one of them, the worddúdú, is used for the word black and colors such as blue, green, purple, and grey. In modern times, unique terms for the colors are formed based on descriptive markers or English loan words,àwọ̀ ewé'color of the leaves' is used for green, whilebúlùú (from English "blue") oràwọ̀ aró'color of dye', is used for blue.
Zulu andXhosa use the word-luhlaza forblue/green; the prefix changes according to the class of noun. Speakers of the two mutually intelligible languages can add a descriptive word after the colour term to differentiate between the two colours; for example "(lu)hlaza okwesibhakabhaka" meaning 'like the sky' or (lu)hlaza okwotshani meaning 'like grass'.
TheSwahili word for blue isbuluu, which is derived directly from English and has been in the language for a relatively short time. For other colors, Swahili uses eitherrangi ya ___'the color of ___' or a shortened version,-a ___. For example, green israngi ya kijani orrangi ya majani'the color of grass/leaves'. Sky blue israngi ya samawati'the color of the sky' from the Arabic word for skyسَمَاءsamāʔ (plural:سَمَاوَاتsamāwāt). These examples can be written as-a kijani,-a majani,-a samwati[41]
TheHimba people use a single word for shades of green and blue:buru. They curiously have only three other color names; thus, their limited color perception has aroused interest in anthropologists, who have studied this phenomenon.
Tswana uses the same wordtala to refer to both blue and green. One has to deduce from the context and prior knowledge, of what is being talked about, to be able to pinpoint exactly the color in question.
In the languageTsakhur, not only are blue and green distinguished, but also turquoise.[42]
InEastern Arrernte, the wordsatherrke andatherrke-atherrke both can be used to refer to the colour green, including some shades of blue and yellow. Additionally,atherrke can also be used as a noun to refer tograss and other small plants.[43]
TheBasque language has three native color words derived fromur'water'.Urdin, is nowadays used in most cases for blue.Ubel originally meant "flash flood" and, with respect to colors, refers to bruises.Begi ubela would be translated into English by "a black and blue eye". But in Basque, unlike English,ubel remains in use after the hit skin has lost its purple color and become pale, why this word is used for both "purple" in particular and "pale hue" in general.Uher originally meant "dirty", "still water", or "rusty"; it is used for gray or sienna tones, and more generally for dark colors. Green is usually expressed with the loan-wordberde from Spanishverde/Frenchvert. The authenticity of the less common Basque terms for green(h)orlegi andmusker is disputed.[44]
Finnish makes a distinction betweenvihreä'green' andsininen'blue'.Turquoise orteal (turkoosi orsinivihreä) is considered to be a separate, intermediate color between green and blue, andmusta'black' is also differentiated from blue.
The name for blue,sininen, is shared with otherFinnic languages. Cognates of the root are also found in theMordvinic languages and it is thus dated even beyond the era of theProto-Finnic language (c. 2000 years old). It appears similar to a word found in the Slavic languages (Russianсинийsiniy), but there is no consensus that there would be a relationship (seeProto-Finnic *sini,Proto-Slavic *siňь). The wordvihreä (viher-, archaicviheriä,viheriäinen) is related tovehreä'verdant' andvihanta'green', andviha'hate', originally'poison'. It is not shared with Estonian, in which it isroheline, probably related with the Estonian wordrohi'grass'. However, the formviha does have correspondences in related languages as far asPermic languages, where it means not only "poison" but "bile" or "green or yellow". It has been originally loaned from an Indo-Iranian protolanguage and is related to Latinvirus'poison'. Furthermore, the wordmusta'black' is also of Finnic origin.
The differentiation of several colors byhue is at leastFinnic (a major subgroup of Uralic) in origin. Before this, only red (punainen) was clearly distinguished by hue, with other colors described in terms of brightness (valkea vs.musta), using non-color adjectives for further specificity. Alternatively, it appears that the distinction betweenvalkea andmusta was in fact "clean, shining" vs. "dirty, murky". The original meaning ofsini was possibly either "black/dark" or "green". Mauno Koski's theory is that dark colors of high saturation—both blue and green—would besini, while shades of color with low saturation, such as dark brown or black, would bemusta. Although it is theorized that originallyvihreä was not a true color name and was used to describe plants only, the occurrence ofvihreä orviha as a name of a color in several related languages shows that it was probablypolysemic (meaning both "green" and "verdant") already in early Baltic-Finnic. However, whatever the case with these theories, differentiation of blue and green must be at least as old as the Baltic-Finnic languages.[45]
Hungarian makes the distinction between green (zöld) and blue (kék), and also distinguishes black (fekete). Intermediate colors between green and blue are commonly referred to aszöldeskék (literally greenish-blue) orkékeszöld (bluish-green), but names for specific colors in this continuum—like turquoise (türkiz)—also exist. Particular shades of a color can also have separate names, such as azure (azúr).
TheKazakh language, like manyTurkic languages, distinguishes betweenkök for blue andjasyl for green. In Kazakh, many adjectival variations can be found referring to perceived gradations in saturation level of "blue", such askögildir,kökshil, andkökboz, which respectively denominate the gradual decrease in the intensity,kökboz being often used as a color referent in its own right.Kök is occasionally used to denote green plants (e.g.kök shöp), but such usage is mostly confined to poetic utterances or certain localized dialects.
Before the standardization and mongolization of theTuvan language, many centuries ago,Tuvans used the wordkök (from theProto-Turkickök – "blue/celestial") for both blue and green. To distinguish the color green from blue, they used to name itsug-kök – "water-blue", no matter how strange it may sound.[citation needed] Although note thatkök was used for green primarily, they usedsug-kök only if they needed to. Thus, blue waskök, and green waskök, sug-kök. However, the dark hues of both colors can be named similarly askök even nowadays.
Over time, due to the diversity of the country (Tuva being at the border of different major tribes, both Turkic and Mongol), the green color was named differently from one area to another. In some parts, Tuvans usedchazhyl ("green" in the majority of the Turkic languages), other parts used the Mongolnogoon, the rest used the traditionalkök/sug-kok.
Under the influence of theMongol Empire and due to the need to standardize the language at the beginning of the 20th century, the word green becamenogoon (from theMongolian "green"). The linguists who were responsible for the standardization had to take into account two factors: the Mongolization of the language, and the lack of the word for green. They decided to use the Mongolian word for green because they wanted to implicate the Mongol legacy in the lexicon.
Hence today, in the standardized Tuvan language, blue and green are named differently, but it led to the following controversies:
Nowadays, the "Blue-green distinction" topic is quite forgotten, people are used to the usage ofnogoon. In general, Mongolisms in the lexicon of the Tuvan language are not considered unusual.
Turkish treats dark or navy blue (lacivert, from the same Persian root as English "azure" and "lapis lazuli") as a separate color from plain or light blue (mavi).Mavi is derived from the Arabic wordمائيmāʼī'like water' (ماءmāʼ being the Arabic word for water) andlacivert is derived from Persianلاجوردlājvard'lapis lazuli', a semiprecious stone with the color of navy blue. In thepre-Islamic religion of the Turks, blue is the color that represented the east, as well as the zodiac sign Aquarius (the Water Bearer). A characteristic tone of blue,turquoise, was much used by the Turks for their traditional decorations and jewelry.
In traditional pre-Islamic Turkic culture, both blue and green were represented by the same name,gök'sky'.[citation needed] The name is still in use in many rural areas. For instance, in many regions of Turkey, when mold is formed on cheese, the phenomenon is calledgöğermek'turning into the color of sky (gök)'.
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