Re: [tied] Yellow as an PIE word

From: alex_lycos
Message: 18033
Date: 2003-01-24

x99lynx@... wrote:
> And for that reason reconstructing a PIE word for yellow or green or
> red might not only be creating a fiction, it might also be missing
> the true semantic identities of and connection between the concrete
> objects that those modern abstract words came from. To the extent
> that the reconstruction of phonological development is based on such
> inaccurate meanings or anachronistic concepts, they may also be off
>
> Steve Long


Hmmm... a language like PIE was a complex language not just a " bla bla
bla".
Regardless which are the reasons which are brought to say there was not
colour name in PIE it sounds doubtfully.
Our organs for feeling the world are the eyes, skin, our hearing and our
taste.
It is hard to believe there was a way to compare with the eyes just "
big/small" or "round/flat" but not "light/dark" or just "light/dark" but
no another nuance.
It is simply seems to be very hard to say there was no name for colours.
I am not aware if there is any study with almost all IE languages for
seeing the basic colours just for seeing comparative how it looks like
if we compare the words of different languages.