1213: Before ‘Orange’ Apr 5, 2018
It was mentioned during Color Week how
before English had the word ‘orange’ to describe the fruit, there was no word
for the color either. This is only half true, so what would have been clearer
would have been to say that before this, there was not a unique word for ‘orange’. Up until the word was borrowed ultimately
from a Dravidian language via Sanskrit and Old French, people got by by saying
the equivalent of ‘yellow-red’: ‘geoluhred’ in Old English. Indeed, ‘orange was
only first recorded in the 16th century (or 13th century
as a reference to the fruit), but clearly people were not partially colorblind
until that point. It is a good example of how people will learn to get by
regardless of limitation to communicate the same ideas.
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