Larry Trask, a world expert on Basque linguistics and the history of the Basque language, passed away on March 28, 2004. Larry contributed extensively to several online communities, including Basque-L and the Indoeuropean list. This collection of his postings is dedicated in his memory. To learn about Larry, see this article.

<beltz> `black'

This, we think, derives from *<beletz>, and contains the ancient element *<bel> `dark', found in a number of other words, such as <bele> `crow', <ospel> `dead leaves', and <goibel> `cloudy sky'. Aquitanian BELEX(-) is probably the same word.

<zuri> `white'

This may contain the ancient adjective-forming suffix <-i> (as in <gazi> `salty'), and Azkue suggested a derivation from <zur> `wood' -- hence -wood-colored', `light-colored'. Nobody knows.

<gorri> `red'

Again <-i>, and again Azkue, who suggested a stem *<gor> `raw flesh'. This would also be present in <gordin> `raw, crude', with the adjective-forming suffix <-din>, probably `resembling'.

<hori> `yellow'

Again <-i>, and this time Azkue wants <(h)or> `dog' as the source: hence the original meaning would have been `tawny' (lion-colored).

<urdin> `blue'

This originally covered all of green, blue, and gray: note <gibelurdin>, a mushroom with a bright green underside, and <mutxurdin> `old maid', but literally `gray-cunt' (and also <urdin> applied to gray hair and beards). Again we seem to have <-din>, and the first element looks like <ur> `water'. The semantics is great: `resembling water', but the form is funny. The ancient combining form of <ur> is <u->, and so we would have expected *<udin>.

These are the only color terms that can be securely reconstructed. Others are loan words, like <berde> `green', <gris> `gray', <arrosa> `pink', and <laranja> `orange'. There are modern compounds, like <gorrimotel> `weak red' for `pink'. Bizkaian <laru> `pale yellow' is from Latin <claru>, and Bizkaian <beilegi> `yellow' appears to derive from <behi> `cow'. And <orlegi> `green' is one of Sabino Arana's. Some northerners have <musker> for `green', but this is taken from the name of a green lizard, and the word does not look native.

Otherwise, we have several words of variable meaning. The most interesting is <arre>, today usually `brown' but formerly `gray', and possibly the source of <arrats> `evening'. The word <nabar> means all of `gray, drab, multicolored'. Eastern <dundu>, which cannot be ancient, is `blue' in Roncalese but `dark' in Zuberoan. Exceptionally interesting is <ubel>, which in many places is `purple, violet', but elsewhere it just means `dark' or `livid'. This doubtless contains *<bel> `dark'. And <beltzaran> `brunette, sun-tanned' is mysterious: it certainly contains <beltz>, but what the hell is the second element?

<uher>

Ah, yes -- I forgot about this one. This is yet another word that sometimes means `(dark) gray' but sometimes just `turbid' (of water), or even `bitter'. I confess I don't know its etymology, but it does look as if it might be derived from <ur>, though the second element is puzzling.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
England

larryt@cogs.susx.ac.uk

User Contributed Notes /Basque/Euskara/Larry/color.terms.html	add a note
Total number of notes for this page: 7 Currently viewing page 1 of 1 page of notes
blas at buber dot net 02-Jan-2007 11:45 #4308 I disagree with one statement, Angus. Freshly cut wood is indeed white. The "flesh" of the wood is closer to white than any other color. It is the bark that is brown, but then only for some trees. Aspens, for example, are more grey. (Not saying that the Basque region is covered in Aspens, just giving an example.)
ANGUSJHUCK at aol dot com 17-Dec-2006 19:22 #4211 I am sorry to say that Professor Trask has trotted out a rather feeble folk etymology of Azkue's, and is also wrong about the word for "black". ZURI "white" cannot have anything to do with ZUR "wood" for two reasons: (1) wood is brown, not white; and (2) ZUR "wood" reflects an earlier *TUR, a word which is recorded in Iberian texts in both Roman and Iberian scripts. SURI is recorded in ancient sources (in the Roman script) as SURI. Azkue cannot be blamed for his error, since the sources which contradict him were not available in his day. Professor Trask, on the other hand, has no such excuse. BELTZ "black" cannot have anything to do with the personal name compound element recorded in the Roman script in the Upper Garonne Valley as BELEX- (Trask misleadingly calls the language recorded here "Aquitainian"; it is actually a dialect of Iberian). Why is this? The frequent personal name compound element, usually written BELES, is present in Iberian texts found right across the Iberian language region, from The Sierra Nevada up to Languedoc. In some cases, it is written alongside BELS, indicating that BELES and BELS are separate words. BELES is more likely to be cognate with Basque BELATZ "sparrohawk". Indeed, the variant, BELAS, found on the Fraga Funerary Stele, is notweworthy in this respect. Professor Trask should have been aware of the Iberian texts. They were known in his day. That he made this very elementary blunder leaves me nonplussed.
jhangora at gmail dot com 10-Dec-2006 12:02 #4171 I disagree again.I think it's got more to do with sunlight.Places which receive more sunlight {ex-India,Africa} have cultures which favour bright and more colours.While places which are cold and receive lots of snowfall favour less and dimmer colours. Basque being an ancient language it would be interesting to find out the weather at places where proto-Basques speakers lived.
blas at buber dot net 08-Dec-2006 19:06 #4166 I agree. I think I misworded what I meant. My understanding is that, as cultures evolve, they add color terms in a very specific order. The order is something like white and black; red; green and yellow (either order); blue; brown; pink, purple, orange, grey. (This is from the book Basic Color Terms by Berlin and Kay.) So, what I said was poorly worded. I meant to say that Basque only has so many aboriginal color terms because it developed in relative isolation for only a short time, before making contact with other cultures that may have been more advanced and introduced other color terms. The order would indeed be based upon human perceptions of nature. At least, this is how I understand things...
jhangora at gmail dot com 03-Dec-2006 7:39 #4108 I disagree with your view Blas.I feel it isn't the number of speakers which determines how many colours {or names for colour}they have in their language.I think it has more to do with perception. After all colours are a part of nature.
blas at buber dot net 01-Dec-2006 14:08 #4095 It isn't uncommon for languages that belong to smaller groups of people and that have had less contact with the rest of the world to have smaller numbers of colors in their vocabulary. Today, Basque does have a lot of color terms, but most of those are borrowed from other languages. I guess it isn't until a culture becomes more "sophisticated" that the people feel they need more color terms.
jhangora at gmail dot com 29-Nov-2006 13:55 #4088 Why are there so few colour names in Basque?
add a note
Last updated: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 - 15:07:51

This page is part of Buber's Basque Page and is maintained by Blas Uberuaga. Please report any problems or suggestions to Blas. Eskerrik asko!