In English we have the primary colors (red, yellow, blue), but we also have words for a pretty basic array of hues: black, white, green, brown, orange, purple, etc. Creative folks might use a broader vocabulary, including shades of turquoise or amber, but compared to the incredible range of colors that exist in the world, these words don’t even come close to covering it.
In 1969, two researchers found that, across most cultures and languages, people typically develop words for colors in the same order. First come the words to describe black and white. Then red is the next color to be identified. After that, either green or yellow are added, followed by blue, then brown. Finally, after all those basic colors have names, extra hues like orange, purple, gray, or pink come in any order.
The English names for colors developed in this order, and the research indicates the sequence was based on natural things — red blood, green trees, yellow gold, and the blue sky. Let’s examine how some of our basic color words developed.
Black
In many languages there is correlation between the words for “black” and “to burn,” which makes sense as soot and burned material would be recognizably black materials. The English word for “black” traces back to the Old English blæc, which means "absolutely dark, absorbing all light, the color of soot or coal," and the Proto-Germanic blakaz, which translates to "burned."
White
Simply called “light” in some cultures, the English word for “white” comes from the Old English hwit, which refers to "whiteness, white food, or the white of an egg."
Red
This word comes directly from the Middle English term red, which was used to describe the color of blood, wine, roses, and cherries. Linguists believe cultures tend to grant names to colors when they are reproduced in textiles or art. Several red tones, such as scarlet and damask (named for red-toned fabrics) and vermilion and carmine (named for the insects used to make red dye), are inspired by textile manufacturing.
Green
The color most related to nature comes from the Proto-Indo-European root ghre, which means “grow.” However, a culture must first develop a distinction between green and blue before it can move on to naming additional colors. Some pre-modern languages, such as Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Egyptian, used the same color to describe the growing grass and the color of the sky.
Yellow
The term “yellow” comes from the Proto-Indo-European root word ghel, which translates to “gleam” or “shine.” In the earliest iterations it was likely referring to sunlight, but synonyms for “yellow” reference many other natural substances. Think of yellow hues such as lemon, canary, butternut, gold, amber, blonde, champagne, daffodil, maize, mustard, ochre, saffron, and straw.
Blue
The color of the sky comes from the Proto-Indo-European word bhle, which means “yellow-gray.” Not exactly how we might think of the ocean or a sapphire, but language evolves in interesting ways. In the Odyssey and Iliad, Homer describes water as the “wine-dark sea,” implying he saw it as a reddish rather than blue tone. However, it’s possible that Homer did not yet have the language to describe the color blue back in the 8th century BCE.
Brown
Used to describe wood, soil, skin, and chocolate, brown is an extremely useful color word. Its name comes from the Old English brūn, which translates as “brown, dark, dusky.” Brown shades in art have been around since pre-historic times, though ancient people might have interpreted it as red or yellow.
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