3 ms·

This would have been an excellent argument had the word been evidenced in use contemporaneously with the Iliad. We have no such evidence of this.

daveguy 3y ago
The translation of the Iliad used in the Gutenberg Project[0] refers to deep blue seas twice. [0] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2199/2199-h/2199-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2199/2199-h/2199-h.htm
- diogenes4 3y ago
  You seem to have linked a translation—that is not useful here. Start here instead: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1...
  - daveguy 3y ago
    Since I don't speak Greek I'm going to go with the translations not screwing up basic color translations. Here are some of the variety of blues in ancient Greek writing: https://www.lingalot.com/colors-in-ancient-greek/ https://www.lingalot.com/colors-in-ancient-greek/ Nice try starting / propagating a ridiculous myth though.
adrian_b 3y ago
The "-eos" suffix for making color adjectives from names of substances, was a standard method in Greek, e.g. "chruseos" (golden), from "chrusos" (gold). "Cuanos", "cuaneos" and many other words that are derived from "cuanos" are very abundant in the Iliad and the Odyssey (and also in most later Greek texts), so there is plenty of evidence about their use. They are used e.g. about the eyes of Amphitrite, about some details of the shield of Achilles, about some ornaments of the prow of the ships and about many other things. See "A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect", by Richard John Cunliffe, which points to the locations in the Iliad and in the Odyssey of such words. Moreover, the word "cuwano", used for ultramarine blue, is also known from many Hittite texts that are much older than any Greek texts, making obvious from where the Greeks have taken the word. The various kinds of blue pigments used for paintings, i.e. the various kinds of "cuanos", are described with many details by Theophrastus, whose work is important for understanding many of the earlier uses of some words, because in the older texts the meaning was difficult to grasp from the limited context.

daveguy 3y ago

The translation of the Iliad used in the Gutenberg Project[0] refers to deep blue seas twice. [0] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2199/2199-h/2199-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2199/2199-h/2199-h.htm

diogenes4 3y ago
You seem to have linked a translation—that is not useful here. Start here instead: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1...
- daveguy 3y ago
  Since I don't speak Greek I'm going to go with the translations not screwing up basic color translations. Here are some of the variety of blues in ancient Greek writing: https://www.lingalot.com/colors-in-ancient-greek/ https://www.lingalot.com/colors-in-ancient-greek/ Nice try starting / propagating a ridiculous myth though.

adrian_b 3y ago

The "-eos" suffix for making color adjectives from names of substances, was a standard method in Greek, e.g. "chruseos" (golden), from "chrusos" (gold). "Cuanos", "cuaneos" and many other words that are derived from "cuanos" are very abundant in the Iliad and the Odyssey (and also in most later Greek texts), so there is plenty of evidence about their use. They are used e.g. about the eyes of Amphitrite, about some details of the shield of Achilles, about some ornaments of the prow of the ships and about many other things. See "A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect", by Richard John Cunliffe, which points to the locations in the Iliad and in the Odyssey of such words. Moreover, the word "cuwano", used for ultramarine blue, is also known from many Hittite texts that are much older than any Greek texts, making obvious from where the Greeks have taken the word. The various kinds of blue pigments used for paintings, i.e. the various kinds of "cuanos", are described with many details by Theophrastus, whose work is important for understanding many of the earlier uses of some words, because in the older texts the meaning was difficult to grasp from the limited context.