[lit-ideas] Re: From Grue to Bleen -- And Back
- From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:26:09 +0100
> Nelson's predicates grue and bleen are not Welsh
agreed. Gwyrdd, green (and grey?) and glas (blue and green) are
(traditional) Welsh. (Glas=blue, but also, of [the colour of] the sea,
grass, and silver.) In (traditional?) Irish and Breton, glas=green, wref
plant hues of
green. Gruebleen is I assume Joyceish, as opposed to Irish.
>Welsh speakers use “gwyrdd” (pronounced “goo-irrrth”) as
>a general word for green. Yet “grass” literally translates as
>“blue straw”. That is because the Welsh word for blue (“glas”)
>can accommodate all shades of green. English-speaking
>anthropologists affectionately squish “green” and “blue”
>together to call Welsh an example of a “grue” language.
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8548630
JL's argument is that grue is part of the philosophical lexicon, not the
anthropological (and not derived from or even connected to Welsh usage),
linguists and anthropologists do though use 'grue' -- not 'bleen', see
the web, passim
Judy Evans, Cardiff
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