This gives me a chance to mention a passuk-related pun I once came up with:
What color is a zav?
- Green, because it says (Vayikra 15:8), "Vechi yarok ha-zav."
Awesome post.
Here is an abstract of an article about color terms in Rashi:
http://cat.inist.fr/?
aModele=aff...cpsidt=17574926
There are a couple of good articles and books on color terms in Tanakh (names escape me now).
YOu wrote: "What the sages called "green" is today called "tzivoni," meaning "colored." "
The word 'tzivoni' bring to my mind 'zaitooni' from Syrian Arabic. 'zaitooni' is the color of zaiton = olive.
although olive is of different colors, zaitoni refers to the color of the green zaitoon.
Also commenting on: "reik ריק meaning "empty". From here the word ירק meaning "to spit" derives." The word 'Reeq=ריק' means salavia in Syrian Arabic.
Alex - "A good pun is its own reword."
S. - Thanks! If you ever recall the names, please let me know.
Kevin - I don't think there's a connection between zayit (olive) and tzeva (color) in Hebrew. But it does seem that the names of the colors in Arabic more closely match the names of objects with those colors.
Fascinating series on the colors, Dave. Just wanted to note, that AFAIK, the doubling of the two final letters does not necessarily *lessen* or *lighten* the color. 'yeraqraq' (and its cognates, adamdam, kxalxal, vradrad) means 'greenish' (reddish, bluish, pinkish).
Raises a question, by the way, about sagol, which I'll post on that entry, with your permission :)
The connection between gold and green could be interesting. If I am not mistaken (and I haven't checked this), a thin film of gold leaf can take on a greenish colour, especially if light passes through it. Could this be the effect that was being documented? A sort of greenish gold?
Nominally Challenged - What does "ish" mean if not less than the adjective it's modifying?
Dave - This could be the effect, but as I mentioned it's hard to say. Maybe the gold was greenish, or maybe yarok simply meant "gold".
Dave, point taken, but it can also be used as an intensifier - for instance 'kaxol yeraqraq' is a 'greenish blue' which brings the blue closer to green, rather than diminishing the green (because it qualifies the blue, rather than the green).
Great posts.
The way you would write it in hebrew would be something like this, in hebrew words: Today green is what we call green, THE COLOR OF FRESH GRASS, but it once meant yellow, etc.
Nominally Challenged -
Even here I think that greenish blue means it's not a full green - otherwise it would be blueish green.
David Farkas - That can work, and that's how the Rabbis in the Talmud generally did it. The problem is that even then not everyone agrees - which leads to further and further discussions - see my earlier comment!
Very interesting.
It is also useful to mention the arabic word (used also in Persian) for Hepatitis which is "Yaraqan" alluding to yellowish pale color of the patient's face.
I believe a midhrash calls queen Ester "yeraqroqeth", meaning she was blonde.
Commenting by HaloScan
