Orð og tunga - 01.06.2013, Blaðsíða 141

Susanne M. Arthur: Are Oranges Yellow?
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Term Earliest Occurrence
rauðbleikr Iate 13th century
rauðgulur 14th century
brandgulur mid-17th century
gulrauður early 18th century
oransjegulur, orangegulur, óransíugulur Iate 19th century
gulleplalitaður early 20th century
gullrauður mid-20th century
appelsínugulur mid-20th century
glóaldinrauður 1966
appelsínurauður mid-20th century
appelsínulitur/appelsínulitaður 21st century?
dökkgulur 21st century?
ljósrauður 21 st century?
Table 6. Summary oflcelandic compoutid termsfor the color orange (order as discussed in
article; the final three examples appeared only in the survey).
5 Assessment of Data: The Story of the Yellow
Orange
Of the thirteen examples of Icelandic compound color terms for or-
ange (Table 6), five are definite or possible compounds of red and yel-
low (rauðbleikr; rauðgulur, brandgulur, gulrauður, gullrauður), three are
associated only with yellow (oransjegulur/orangegidur/óransíugulur,
appelsínugulur, dökkgidur), three are associated only with red (glóaldin-
rauður, appelsínurauður, Ijósrauður), and two (gulleplalitaður appelsínu-
litur/appelsínulitaður) resemble 'orange-colored/ the word from which
orange is ultimately derived.
It is to be expected that orange is frequently described as a com-
pound of red and yellow, or becomes isolated from either red or yel-
low, in early language stages, since it is not a primary color but is
formed by mixing those two colors. In Berlin and Kay's analysis of
early language stages (stages I—III), which do not yet have a term
for yellow, both yellow and orange often seem to derive from red
(1969:26, 29). After the introduction of yellow into a language - oc-
casionally as a loanword from other languages - the color orange,
however, is frequently associated with yellow.22 Considering the close
22 Examples indude the language of the IKung Bushmen in South Africa (Berlin
and Kay 1969:33), certain languages of the Torres Straits groups (Berlin and Kay
1969:38-39), the language of the Native American Zuni (Lenneberg and Roberts