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Loading... When blue meant yellow : how colors got their namesby Jeanne Heifetz
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Explores the origins of 191 color terms -- from apricot to zinnaber green. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)535.6Natural sciences and mathematics Physics Optics ColorLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Since I am a stitcher, seeing color in shades of DMC floss, I was interested in how color names came to be and also if the color I associate with a name is the same for everyone. Not so. There were clear matches where my color sense and Heifetz’s matched. However, there were some notable exceptions. Maize in the book is decidedly orange, not yellow-orange as I picture it; honeydew to me is pale green, not cantaloupe orange as Heifetz describes; and others. A minor annoyance was the constant flipping from the page being read to others where the same topic was discussed.
The strengths of this book are in the charming stories attached to color. How Isabella color came to be is one of most interesting; the paragraphs on electric blue and peacock include a lot of scientific information. The author also provides a bibliographical essay where you can read further on many of the subjects in the book. Most interesting were her comments on the Oxford English Dictionary where she found the information on words with Semitic roots to be lacking. She provides alternative sources for these words.
This book has value for anyone who works with color, either as an enjoyable read or for a reference for naming colors. And yes, there is a reason to the title. The roots for the word blue mean “to shine, flash, burn” and the word is also related to the Latin “blond, yellow.” ( )