Colour terminology

[Xing]

(A follow up to the language glass thread below)

What colour terms do you have in your conlangs? Which ones are basic, and which ones are derived?

What colour term(s) would you use for:

The sea/ocean
The sky
Grass; plants
Green apples
Red apples
A clown's nose
(Red) tulips
(Red) roses
Red wine
White wine
Pigs
Carrots
Mud
Sand on a beach
The sun
Fire/flames
Lemons
A cloud
The colours of the Union Jack
The colours of the flag of Sweden

(Might add more...)


EDIT: (Or does this belong to the translations forum???)

[Lhûd]

Right now I only have basic terms, for derived ones it would probably be the colors of things that my conpeople see everyday (sunrise, nightfall, skin, etc.)

One distinction my language makes though is between natural and artificial colors. If the color of something is naturally occuring, then the color itself is used to describe it.

Nùnan iauth
Eyes blue

However, if the color of something is not natural to it (such as if it is painted) then the suffix -íel is added to the color word, roughly equivalent to meaning "-like"

Mat iauthíel
Chair blue

[eldin raigmore]

Well, I can't answer yet.

My current plan is for Adpihi to have 27 basic colorterms (since they're human and live on an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star).

That's a lot more than Berlin and Kay said any natlang has.

There'll be terms for white, black, and grey.
There'll be 12 terms for saturated hues of maximum chroma but medium value ("lightness").
Then there'll be six terms for light colors and six terms for dark colors.

At the moment those are expected to be white, black, grey, red, orange, yellow, chartreuse?, green, midori?, cyan, sea-blue?, blue, "royal blue"?, magenta?, "royal red"?, salmon,, eggshell-white, light green, light cyan, sky blue, lavender?, "blood-red"?, brown, dark green, forest green, "navy blue"?, "midnight purple"?.

Caveats:
1. There may be better English names for some of those.
2. I don't know what the Adpihi names for them will be yet.
3. I may want to distribute the basic colorterms through the color-solid a little differently.

4. Maybe Adpihi will have only 8 basic hue terms, only 4 basic light color terms, and only 4 basic dark color terms. That'll still be 19 basic colorterms though.

The basic hues might be red, orange, yellow, chartreuse, green, cyan, blue, and violet.

The light colors might be pink,cream, light green, and cielo. The dark colors might be dark red, brown, dark green, and dark blue.

Anyway, of course, they can also describe non-basic colorterms as well.

[Ear of the Sphinx]

Emyt:

avruśan - infrared
ruśan - purple
vyran - red
etśan - orange
maryt - yellow
geśat - green
uśon - celadon
yktar - skyblue
uvet - blue
rin'uvet - ultraviolet

[Ànradh]

My language is for a monochromatic race; I haven't done the required research yet, but they'll basically have names for shades of grey rather than colours.

[Micamo]

Emyt:

avruśan - infrared
ruśan - purple
vyran - red
etśan - orange
maryt - yellow
geśat - green
uśon - celadon
yktar - skyblue
uvet - blue
rin'uvet - ultraviolet

What about combinations of infrared/ultraviolet/visible lights? Red + Green = Yellow, but what about Infrared + Ultraviolet = ?

[Ollock]

Emyt:

avruśan - infrared
ruśan - purple
vyran - red
etśan - orange
maryt - yellow
geśat - green
uśon - celadon
yktar - skyblue
uvet - blue
rin'uvet - ultraviolet

What about combinations of infrared/ultraviolet/visible lights? Red + Green = Yellow, but what about Infrared + Ultraviolet = ?

AIUI the way colors combine is a trick of human perception. Our cones perceive three specific frequencies and derive the others from combinations. That's not so say that these creatures couldn't have a similar perception with their wider spectrum, but I'm not certain that detection of infrared and ultraviolet is quite the same as for visible light. I know some snakes have special pits in front of their eyes that detect infrared (helps when hunting mammals).

[Micamo]

AIUI the way colors combine is a trick of human perception. Our cones perceive three specific frequencies and derive the others from combinations. That's not so say that these creatures couldn't have a similar perception with their wider spectrum, but I'm not certain that detection of infrared and ultraviolet is quite the same as for visible light. I know some snakes have special pits in front of their eyes that detect infrared (helps when hunting mammals).

You're right: I was working off the assumption of infrared/ultraviolet vision being implemented with additional cones. Still, if they aren't implemented that way, it's curious why he'd list them as colors.

[Ollock]

AIUI the way colors combine is a trick of human perception. Our cones perceive three specific frequencies and derive the others from combinations. That's not so say that these creatures couldn't have a similar perception with their wider spectrum, but I'm not certain that detection of infrared and ultraviolet is quite the same as for visible light. I know some snakes have special pits in front of their eyes that detect infrared (helps when hunting mammals).

You're right: I was working off the assumption of infrared/ultraviolet vision being implemented with additional cones. Still, if they aren't implemented that way, it's curious why he'd list them as colors.

This is true. If infrared was detected from a separate structure, we'd probably expect it to be associated with a different sense, the way humans detecting compression waves below human hearing range or through the ground would talk about "feeling" a vibration, even though it's technically a sound.

[Ear of the Sphinx]

You're right: I was working off the assumption of infrared/ultraviolet vision being implemented with additional cones. Still, if they aren't implemented that way, it's curious why he'd list them as colors.

Infrared and ultraviolet aren't perceived by Eths - they are humans.
Listing them as colours is due to Emyt terminology. Sap, word for light is used for all types of electromagnetic radiation (e.g. uranium is named sappyn, metal of "light"). Due to this, even microwave or X-rays will be called "lights".
When distinction is needed, solninat (the seen one) is used for visible light.

[Xing]

Here are the colour terms in my conlang (Wattétexu/Ne ennu)

rúki - black, dark
upuupu - brown (derived from upu, "soil, earth"
kirakira - yellow, orange (derived from kira, "fire, flame")
mmóri - red (possibly distantly related to the word for "blood")
gétegéte, gététe - green (derived from géte, "plant")
llóxi - blue, green (in artificial objects/paintings)
mmita - white, bright (in natural objects)
xeremmita - white (in artificial objects/paintings)


The sea/ocean - llóxi
The sky - llóxi
Grass; plants - gététe
Green apples - gététe
Red apples - mméri
A clown's nose - mméri
(Red) tulips - mméri
(Red) roses - mméri
Red wine - rúki
White wine - mmita
Pigs - mméri
Carrots - mméri
Mud - upuupu
Sand on a beach - mmita
The sun - kirakira
Fire/flames - kirakira
Lemons - kirakira
A cloud - mmita
The colours of the Union Jack - llóxi, mméri, xeremmita
The colours of the flag of Sweden - kirakira, xeremmita

[Solarius]

The colo(u)r terms in Keoriki:

pjɛgɔ-red, pink, orange, some purples
u-yellow, yellow-orange, yellow-green
ŋʷrɛ-most greens,blue, some purples
rur-brown,some purples
sɔsɔ-black
kɛɞr-white,gray

The sea/ocean-ŋʷrɛ
The sky-kɛɞr
Grass; plants-ŋʷrɛ
Green apples-ŋʷrɛ
Red apples-pjɛgɔ
A clown's nose-pjɛgɔ
(Red) tulips-pjɛgɔ
(Red) roses-pjɛgɔ
Red wine-ŋʷrɛ
White wine-u
Pigs-kɛɞr
Carrots-pjɛgɔ
Mud-rur
Sand on a beach-u
The sun-u
Fire/flames-pjɛgɔ
Lemons-u
A cloud-kɛɞr
The colours of the Union Jack-pjɛgɔ, kɛɞr, ŋʷrɛ
The colours of the flag of Sweden-u, ŋʷrɛ

[CrazyEttin]

I've only invented the basic colour terms for Antregabua (Changtagxmta):

White/Pale: changpamcx
Black/Dark: thantr̄ba
Red/Yellow: chxdada
Blue/Green: thaāngpa

EDIT: thantr̄ba and changpamcx also include some of the darkest and lightest shades of other colours, such as brown and navy blue.

[Click]

Rutān

1. pārtā - red
2. trapisā - green
3. gutiā - blue
4. saiā - pale yellow
5. pisatā - dark yellow, orange, red, scarlet, pink, brown
6. nātā - black, dark blue
7. iastru - white

The sea/ocean - gutiā
The sky - gutiā
Grass; plants - trapisā
Green apples - trapisā
Red apples - pārtā, pisatā
A clown's nose - pārtā, pisatā
(Red) tulips - pārtā, pisatā
(Red) roses - pārtā, pisatā
Red wine - pisatā
White wine - pisatā, saiā
Pigs - pisatā
Carrots - pisatā
Mud - pisatā
Sand on a beach - iastru
The sun - saiā
Fire/flames - pisatā, pārtā
Lemons - pisatā, saiā
A cloud - iastru

[ian9113]

Colors in Semps are linked to an object's texture. This means that there are different words for, e.g. blue air, blue water, and blue flowers. Most colors (but not all--and some have more) have the basic states of liquid, gas/air, smooth/sticky, rough/dry, and solid. Generally, if you are merely talking about the color alone, you use the solid form. These forms are distinguished by consonants within the word. In example, "red" is alou, asou, annou, akou, apou for the forms listed above, with the additional form of azou, used for red plants or flowers.

selou - The sea/ocean - liquid blue
sesou - The sky - gaseous blue
pitu - Grass; plants - natural green
pinnu - Green apples - smooth green
annou - Red apples - smooth red
apou - A clown's nose - solid red
atou - (Red) tulips - natural red
atou - (Red) roses - ''
alou - Red wine - liquid red
duoltu - White wine - liquid white
anzipeus - Pigs - light solid purple
kêtou - Carrots - natural orange
iennau - Mud - smooth brown
iekau - Sand on a beach - rough brown
ąnseu - The sun - gaseous yellow
'' - Fire/flames - ''
ąnneu - Lemons - smooth yellow
duostu - A cloud - gaseous white
The colours of the Union Jack - apou, duoptu, sepou (red, white, blue)
The colours of the flag of Sweden - sepou, ąnpou (blue, yellow)

Also, the "color" clear is used to describe a texture without describing its color. For example, a "rough edge" would be expressed as "lins ekêu", "clear" is elêu, esêu, ennêu, ekêu, epêu.

[kiwikami]

HyPry is complicated in this regard.
It does not distinguish between additive and subtractive colors (except for black and white), because unlike in humans, Gallifreyans do not visually perceive a mixture of red and green light to be the same as yellow light. Instead, even in terms of light, they used the red-yellow-blue color scale we all know and love. Sort of.

Each color 'set' (red, yellow, blue, purple, orange, green) has a common name, as does black (actually two names) and white (ditto):
red - ʃem
yellow - kab
blue - vul
purple - doul
orange - loŋ
green - hıx
black (as in the addition of color, the common black) - ɯıer
black (as in the absence of color, 'nothingness') - ren
white (as in the addition of color, 'white noise') - ɣat
white (as in the absence of color, the common white) - frœh

More specific colors are named according to their physical composition from these sets (they also have individual names based on their light wavelengths, but we won't go there):
The colors are labeled according to a unit of measurement called nıeps, which might be compared to the degree measurements in an HSL-HSV model, although the maximum is base-7 666 (342 base 10). Each color has three parts: its black/white saturation and its concentration code (its base color, followed by a number dictating whether to count that number of nıeps to the left or right according to the standard color chart). It's a little like the hexadecimal code used in web pages and whatnot. Except nothing like that.

For example, umʃæmenın would be a shade of light purple-red. um indicates the black/white value, ʃ says to begin at red, and æmenın is a much-shortened form of the HyPry word for 513, which equals base-10 255, which places the color pretty close to the purple marker on the scale. The exact same color could also be called umdumuþá'o, which simply measures it from the left, starting with purple. It's... complicated.

For ultraviolet and infrared, variants of which Gallifreyans cannot see but can perceive through other senses and through certain optical implants, they also have various names, none of which I've come up with yet.

Sorry about the endless rambling.

[eldin raigmore]

I might change my mind about Adpihi's colorterms again, back to the 37-term system I once considered.

Greyscale:
black, 25% grey, 50% grey, 75% grey, white.

Maximum chroma and 50% value, eight hues:
red, orange, yellow, chartreuse, green, cyan, blue, purple.

Maximum chroma, 75% value:
pastel red, pastel orange, pastel yellow, pastel chartreuse, pastel green, pastel cyan, pastel blue, pastel purple.

Maximum chroma, 25% value:
dark red, dark orange, dark yellow, dark chartreuse, dark green, dark cyan, dark blue, dark purple.

50% chroma and 50% value, eight hues:
greyish red, greyish orange, greyish yellow, greyish chartreuse, greyish green, greyish cyan, greyish blue, greyish purple.

I still don't have the Adpihi terms worked out.