What Do You Call That?

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Detail from a Painting by A. Trusty

If there is no word to describe a color, does that color exist? We can’t imagine a world devoid of color, but there was a time in our ancient past when humans had no words for the colors around them.

Researchers tell us that the order in which colors were given names followed the same patterns in many, if not most, cultures. The first to be named were the most obvious—black, white and red, possibly corresponding to the night or burnt charcoal, light or the sun, and blood. The next colors to be named were generally green, yellow and blue.

Most languages have between two and eleven basic color words. In English, the full eleven are represented: black, white, red, green, yellow, blue, pink, gray, brown, orange and purple.

The ancient word “bhel” is the root for many contemporary color words. It meant “bright” and is thought to be the basis for terms like the French “blanc” and Portuguese “branco” meaning “white”, as…