Comment on I need an adult
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 3 days ago
Because at the time it was named, there was no word for purple and it was called red
Comment on I need an adult
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 3 days ago
Because at the time it was named, there was no word for purple and it was called red
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I don’t know if that’s true or not, though some color words are definitely older than others, so I can imagine it. Do you have a source?
I’m reminded of how the word “orange” is relatively recent, and named after the fruit. Ever wonder why people with orange hair are called “redheads”? From the links, “redhead” arose in the 1200s, while “orange” wasn’t used to describe color under the 1500s. So “red” was the closest color descriptor at the time “redhead” was coined.
mrsemi@lemmy.world 3 days ago
What’s wild to me is that people didn’t used to distinguish blue from green
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 3 days ago
According to OED it first appears in old english which IIRC is dated between 900 and 1500 AD
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Not to nitpick, just a clarification - it was Old English until 1066, then it was Middle English until the 1400s.