Re: Quest for colours: what's basic then?

Ray Brown scripsit:

> True of orange, I have no doubt. There are AFAIK no standard Middle
> English or Old English names that correspond to the color name 'orange';
> the name is taken from the name of the fruit whose name is certainly of
> Arabic origin. I wasn't aware that the Arabs got the name from Persian,
> but maybe they did.
Spanish < Arabic < Persian < Skt 'naranja', I believe.  The n fell off
at some point; in Portuguese, though, it got replaced by the l- of the
article, despite the fact that Pt then lost it's l's and now uses simple
"o a os as" as articles!

--
Knowledge studies others / Wisdom is self-known;      John Cowan
Muscle masters brothers / Self-mastery is bone;       jcowan@reutershealth.com
Content need never borrow / Ambition wanders blind;   www.ccil.org/~cowan
Vitality cleaves to the marrow / Leaving death behind.    --Tao 33 (Bynner)

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