Words for Color in the Rig Veda

Hopkins, E. Washburn

doi:10.2307/287599

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Why is calling the sky "blue" more analytic than calling it "light blue" (for example celeste in Mesoamerican languages; see Bolton 1978; Harkness 1973;MacLaury 1986;Mathiot 1979). Why is it more analytic than calling it "bright" as in Mursi (Turton 1978, p. 366), "clear, serene" as in Sanskrit (Hopkins 1883;cf. Wood 1902), "whitish" as in Batak (Magnus 1880), verde "green" as in Tlapenec (Dehouve 1978), or nothing at all (some Italian dialects: Kristol 1980, p. 142)?…”

Section: Problems Identifying the Analytic Mindmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10 This converges with observations of western painters (e.g., Cezanne) who felt that chromatic blue has a double nature, related to light and dark. Dark blue and black are also frequently considered a unified entity (see Almquist 1883;Berlin et al 1991;Forge 1970, p. 283;Gage 1978, p. 110;Gatschet 1879;Hopkins 1883;Jochelsen 1908;Rivers 1901;Tornay 1978b;Wierzbicka 1990;Wood 1902). Within the Berlin and Kay tradition however this is considered an earlier stage of evolution.…”

Section: Problems Identifying the Analytic Mindmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Note however that current translational choice is limited to hue, brightness, and saturation, these being the only parameters recognized under the Munsell scheme.) For example, hue/brightness problems arise in translating Sanskrit (Hopkins 1883) and Arabic (Fischer 1965, Gätje 1967. Cases such as Sudanese and Arabic green or blue skin (Bender 1983) must be considered metaphors.…”

Section: Interdependence Of Hue Brightness and Saturationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are there nontrivial constraints on colour categorization?

Saunders¹,

1997

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In this target article the following hypotheses are discussed: (1) Colour is autonomous: a perceptuolinguistic and behavioural universal. (2) It is completely described by three independent attributes: hue, brightness, and saturation: (3) Phenomenologically and psychophysically there are four unique hues: red, green, blue, and yellow; (4) The unique hues are underpinned by two opponent psychophysical and/or neuronal channels: red/green, blue/yellow. The relevant literature is reviewed. We conclude: (i) Psychophysics and neurophysiology fail to set nontrivial constraints on colour categorization. (ii) Linguistic evidence provides no grounds for the universality of basic colour categories. (iii) Neither the opponent hues red/green, blue/yellow nor hue, brightness, and saturation are intrinsic to a universal concept of colour. (iv) Colour is not autonomous.

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Section: Problems Identifying the Analytic Mindmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Problems Identifying the Analytic Mindmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interdependence Of Hue Brightness and Saturationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are there nontrivial constraints on colour categorization?

Saunders¹,

1997

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“…9. Compare the variety of words in Sanskrit that are often (not necessarily correctly) glossed as red and/or yellow and/or golden (Hopkins 1883;Wood 1902).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grammars rule O.K.

Malcolm¹

1999

Behav Brain Sci

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“…In Sanskrit, there are more than 10 words allegedly to be rendered as red in English (not including the many words for reddish‐brown, and so on); the Rig Veda (ca 1500 BCE) is full of them (Hopkins ). Whole ranges of intricate semantic networks exist that touch only tangentially on what in Western languages might be described as chromatic appearance, but are better approached via extension of concepts such as brilliance, transparency, brightly illuminated, shiny, glittering, luminous aspects associated with the sunset and landscapes, and so on.…”

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confidence: 99%

Revisiting Wittgenstein on Family Resemblance and Colour(s)

Brakel

2015

Philosophical Investigations

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We argue that all general concepts are family resemblance concepts. These include concepts introduced by ostension, such as colour(s). Concepts of colour and of each of the specific colours are family resemblance concepts because similarities concerning an open-ended range of colour or of appearance features crop up and disappear. After discussing the notion of "same colour" and Wittgenstein's use of the phrase "our colours", we suggest family resemblance concepts in one tradition can often be extended to family resemblance concepts in another tradition, illustrated by Wittgenstein's use of the words Spiel and "game".

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Words for Color in the Rig Veda

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Are there nontrivial constraints on colour categorization?

Are there nontrivial constraints on colour categorization?

Grammars rule O.K.

Revisiting Wittgenstein on Family Resemblance and Colour(s)

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