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Ancient Color Terminology

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Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

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Synonyms

Ancient color naming; Early color lexicons; Early expression of color in language

Definition

Color terms or partitions of color denotata evidenced in ancient language artifacts.

Words and Hues, Languages and Time: An Overview

The sources for understanding the earliest color terms and categories are from the lands around the eastern Mediterranean Sea, beginning some 5000 years ago. Evidence of color categories from Proto-Cuneiform, Sumerian, Egyptian, and Akkadian (i.e., Babylonian) in Mesopotamia and Egypt (from the end of the fourth millennium BC onward) is followed (from the second half of the second millennium onward) by (Mycenaean) Greek in the West and (Archaic) Chinese in the East. Mesoamerican Maya can be traced back to roots in the first millennium BC, but color is only attested from the first and second millennia AD. Egyptian is the only language which can be traced back from the third millennium BC down to the first millennium AD, meaning that it is the longest...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China

    David Alan Warburton

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  1. David Alan Warburton
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Correspondence to David Alan Warburton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Color Science & Imaging Lab, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Renzo Shamey

Section Editor information

  1. Faculty of Engineering Sciences, University College London, London, Please select, UK

    Lindsay MacDonald

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Warburton, D.A. (2021). Ancient Color Terminology. In: Shamey, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_75-13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_75-13

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Ancient Color Terminology
    Published:
    14 March 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_75-13

  2. Original

    Ancient Color Categories
    Published:
    10 October 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_75-12

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