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This highlights an oddity I've always found fascinating about the Russian language: blue. Most languages have blue, then dark and light blue, and some smaller n
by Etheryte 5y ago
This highlights an oddity I've always found fascinating about the Russian language: blue. Most languages have blue, then dark and light blue, and some smaller niches for specific niches like turqoise etc. Russian has "regular" blue (синий), a darker version of that blue (темносиний), and a lighter version of that blue (светлосиний). So far so good. But then it also has a very specific "lighter" blue (голубой), a darker "lighter" blue (темноголубой), and a lighter "lighter" blue (светлоголубой). What is it, I wonder, that historically brought forward the existence of two very distinctly different kinds of blue where most other cultures use one?
- IYasha 5y ago"голубой" sometimes not only portrayed as lighter blue RGB(x,255,x), but with some greenish tint RGB(y,255,x) where y > x. But not as much as "marine" tones. :) I also find russian (and some other) are very underrepresented in this study. There are dozens of specific color names, mainly used by painters and designers, but also known to general public.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- mzs 5y agoThen there's Polish: granatowy (blue, dark) niebieski (blue like sky) błękitny (blue, light) siny (blue like a bruise) chabrowy (blue like the flower) The first two are definitely perceived as distinct colors in Polish mind and can be similarly modified with jasno- and ciemno- for lighter and darker hues. The last two are much more rare and like shades especially if you want to communicate more poetically.