Saturday, November 10, 2012

Todays Blart: How did colors get their name?

Blart = Blogging about ART!

I was curious as to how colors where named.  I googled it of course and there are many different answers......

Via Yahoo answers
According to Merriam-Webster Online, all go back to Old High German words for red, yellow and blue. This indicates that the names of these colors originated long ago during the time when the English (the germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes) were semi-barbaric and did not have writing. Thus no record survives of how these colors got their names or who named them.

Of the secondary colors, Green comes from the Old English word Growan, "to grow"; Orange comes from the Sanskrit word Narange, which is the word for the orange tree; Purple is from the Latin word Purpura, which refers to the fantastically expensive phoenician purple dye. Again, no one knows what person came up with these names.


According to The Art Treehouse:

WHO GAVE COLORS THEIR NAMES?

In the mid-19th century, King Ludwig I of Bavaria longed to have something like the fine lime frescoes he saw in Italy. But the damp cold climate north of the Alps destroyed anything the artists did within a short period of time. So Ludwig called on Bavarian scientists to produce a paint that would survive the harshness of their climate. The scientists organized a group called The German Society for the Promotion of Rational Methods in Painting! The group was led by Adolf Wilhelm Keim, an unusually creative fellow who discovered a potassium silicate paint that was durable in damp environments. Keim thought the science of making paint needed standardization, so he and the group developed a list of names for colors. Of course, the same mineral from a different location might have variations in color, but at least there would be a common language to use when discussing pigments.
Here are some of the color names from the list developed by Keim and the group, many of which we still use today:
Ultramarine Blue, Naples Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Umber, Ivory Black, Red Ocher, Green Earth, Madder Lake, Zinc White, Indian Yellow.

Buildings painted with Keim's paint are still in good condition today: Weisser Adler house in Stein am Rhein and the Town Hall in Schwyz, Switzerland that were redecorated in 1891, together with facades in Oslo (1895) and in Traunstein, Germany (1891).

On Answers.....
Some dude or gal has an explanation....hmmmm, curious as to why this was chosen the best answer??????
Best Answer
Apparently a realy great guy called Andrew marshall named the colours. he also came up for most names in the English language. Some say that he craeted all languages and was some kind of superhuman with vastly superior intelligence. this let him come up with every language name and number he's a gr8 guy. 
 
(I didn't correct this answer with spell check....could he have inhaled too much turpentine?)
 
And another Answer:
Best Answer
God
(Hmmmmm is that in the Bible?)
 
Least we not ignore our favorite childhood writing tools. 
The Crayola.......
 
So...If anyone has other information as to how colors where named please post in the comments...☺ 
My inquiring mind wants to know. 
 
Thanks for Visiting! 


 

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