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Some languages have more than one word for blue, like Russian where sky blue and deep blue are separate: https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2016/
by zeckalpha 5y ago
Some languages have more than one word for blue, like Russian where sky blue and deep blue are separate: https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2016/09/10/how-do-russians-see-blue-language-may-affect-how-you-see-the-world/ https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2016/09/10...
- rimliu 5y agoIn Lithuanian we also have "mėlynas" for blue, and "žydras" for light blue. They both are commonly used to describe the sky. Curiously enough, our neighbours Latvians have "melnais" which looks similar to our "mėlynas", but actually means "black".
- bonzini 5y agoThat seems to be the same Indo-European root found in Greek μέλας or nowadays "melanin", meaning dark.
- memsom 5y agoOoh that is cool. If you look at the etymology, it seems like the word meant both black and blue at some point and became fixed to one of the colours in each Baltic language, just not the same colour. So, despise it seeming odd, there is a sane explanation, and it is technically the same word as the words are cognates.