hair's colour in sanskrit

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Allen Thrasher wrote:

>On Fri, 9 May 1997, Lars Martin Fosse wrote:
>> 
>> There is a similar problem with Greek colours. The only way to know, is when
>> colour terms are referred to natural phenomena that haven't changed since
>> ancient times. E.g. white may be referred to the egg of a hen, red to a
>> given kind of red berries, brown to soil etc. 
>
>Brown referring to soil is a much less felicitous example than the other
>two.  Soils can also be (in American English) black, yellow, etc.  In much
>of my state of Virginia it is a beautiful red.  And in countries which
>have undergone intensive agriculture for many centuries one can't assume
>the soil's color is the same as it was in the time of some classic
>literature.

Thanks for a useful and apt comment! I should have known better, having
flown over Australia and admired the fascinating reddish colour of that
continent. But apart from my soiled gaffe here, I think the principle works. 

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse


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