4 ms·

The Greeks didn't have a word for the color blue.

by burnafter182 5y ago

rhn_mk1 5y ago
The Russians have two.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  Like "Blue" and "Navy"? Or just two blues? If the latter, what's the reason?
  - tetromino_ 5y ago
    What's the reason why English and most other languages of Europe treat blue and green like distinct basic colors, while many languages of Asia have one word encompassing both? What's the reason why Hungarian has two basic words for different kinds of red? It's just a historical artifact of language evolution. Russian happened to the evolve two different distinct basic color words for blue; to an English speaker, both are different shades of blue, but in Russian, neither is a shade of the other; and Russian has no single color word encompassing the English concept of "blue".
    - tigen 5y ago
      Even in English, in certain contexts, blue-green middling shades are treated individually (turquoise, cyan). Of course there are many color names in paint/art, but even in everyday situations there is a pretty clear concept of turquoise being its own distinct color.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  Azure, cobalt, sapphire, cerulean, indigo, aquamarine... Most languages probably have quite a few.
  - tetromino_ 5y ago
    Two basic color words for different types of blue. You might think of azure, cobalt, and sapphire as shades of blue. To a Russian speaker, синий and голубой are not shades of each other, they are different basic colors, like blue and green in English. And there is no one color word in Russian encompassing all blues.
    - jazzyjackson 5y ago
      just as there is no word in English encompassing all blue-greens
    - defanor 5y ago
      > To a Russian speaker, синий and голубой are not shades of each other, they are different basic colors, like blue and green in English. As a native Russian speaker, I always understood "голубой" as a light shade of "синий" (blue), and that's how it's defined in dictionaries [1,2]. [1] https://academic.ru/searchall.php?SWord=%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B9&from=xx&to=ru&did=&stype= https://academic.ru/searchall.php?SWord=%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D... [2] https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B9 https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B...
      - jpindar 5y ago
        Like pink and red? Technically pink is light red, but no one calls it that.
        defanor 5y ago
        I think pink is less clearly a shade of red (it can go a bit into blue), while "голубой" is simply light or pale blue: AFAICT it's used as an alias, and one may call it "light blue" as well.
ceejayoz 5y ago
Nah. https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/26918/could-people-perceive-the-color-blue-in-ancient-times https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/26918/could-peo... (Be sure to read the #2 answer, which I find more compelling than the first.)

The Greeks didn't have a word for the color blue.

rhn_mk1 5y ago

The Russians have two.

missedthecue 5y ago
Like "Blue" and "Navy"? Or just two blues? If the latter, what's the reason?
- tetromino_ 5y ago
  What's the reason why English and most other languages of Europe treat blue and green like distinct basic colors, while many languages of Asia have one word encompassing both? What's the reason why Hungarian has two basic words for different kinds of red? It's just a historical artifact of language evolution. Russian happened to the evolve two different distinct basic color words for blue; to an English speaker, both are different shades of blue, but in Russian, neither is a shade of the other; and Russian has no single color word encompassing the English concept of "blue".
  - tigen 5y ago
    Even in English, in certain contexts, blue-green middling shades are treated individually (turquoise, cyan). Of course there are many color names in paint/art, but even in everyday situations there is a pretty clear concept of turquoise being its own distinct color.
ceejayoz 5y ago
Azure, cobalt, sapphire, cerulean, indigo, aquamarine... Most languages probably have quite a few.
- tetromino_ 5y ago
  Two basic color words for different types of blue. You might think of azure, cobalt, and sapphire as shades of blue. To a Russian speaker, синий and голубой are not shades of each other, they are different basic colors, like blue and green in English. And there is no one color word in Russian encompassing all blues.
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    just as there is no word in English encompassing all blue-greens
  - defanor 5y ago
    > To a Russian speaker, синий and голубой are not shades of each other, they are different basic colors, like blue and green in English. As a native Russian speaker, I always understood "голубой" as a light shade of "синий" (blue), and that's how it's defined in dictionaries [1,2]. [1] https://academic.ru/searchall.php?SWord=%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B9&from=xx&to=ru&did=&stype= https://academic.ru/searchall.php?SWord=%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D... [2] https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B9 https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B...
    - jpindar 5y ago
      Like pink and red? Technically pink is light red, but no one calls it that.
      - defanor 5y ago
        I think pink is less clearly a shade of red (it can go a bit into blue), while "голубой" is simply light or pale blue: AFAICT it's used as an alias, and one may call it "light blue" as well.

ceejayoz 5y ago

Nah. https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/26918/could-people-perceive-the-color-blue-in-ancient-times https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/26918/could-peo... (Be sure to read the #2 answer, which I find more compelling than the first.)