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Re: What counts as a basic color word?

From:Doug Dee <amateurlinguist@...>
Date:Sunday, April 6, 2003, 18:15
In a message dated 4/4/2003 12:59:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
langs@QUANDARY.ORG writes:


> Or maybe color words could only take -en up to the point when green and > yellow were added? I can't help noticing that the three that do take it - > redden, whiten, blacken - are the Primal Three. > > No, that's probably not it. But disproof would be welcome. > > Amanda >
I recall reading somewhere that whether an English adjective can form a derivative with -en depends both on the final phoneme of the adjective and on something about the meaning of the adjective. If only I could remember where I read that and what the details were . . . Doug