Editing Green (section)

== Etymology and linguistic definitions ==
[[File:Leavessnipedale.jpg|thumb|right|The word ''green'' has the same Germanic root as the words for ''grass'' and ''grow'']]

The word ''green'' comes from the [[Middle English]] and [[Old English]] word ''grene'', which, like the [[German language|German]] word ''grün'', has the same root as the words ''grass'' and ''grow''.<ref>''Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language'', The World Publishing Company, New York, 1964.</ref> It is from a [[Common Germanic]] ''[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/grōniz|*gronja]]-'', which is also reflected in [[Old Norse]] ''grænn'', [[Old High German]] ''gruoni'' (but unattested in [[East Germanic languages|East Germanic]]), ultimately from a [[PIE root]] ''*{{PIE|ghre-}}'' "to grow", and root-cognate with ''[[:wikt:grass|grass]]'' and ''[[:wikt:grow|to grow]]''.<ref>{{cite web| last =Harper| first =Douglas| title =Online Etymology Dictionary| date =November 2001| url =http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=green&searchmode=none| access-date = November 22, 2007}}</ref>
The first recorded use of the word as a color term in Old English dates to ca. AD 700.<ref>Maerz and Paul (1930). ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York: McGraw-Hill p. 196</ref>

[[Latin]] with ''[[:wikt:viridis|viridis]]'' also has a genuine and widely used term for "green". Related to ''virere'' "to grow" and ''ver'' "spring", it gave rise to words in several [[Romance languages]], French ''vert'', Italian ''verde'' (and English ''[[wikt:vert|vert]]'', ''[[:wikt:verdure|verdure]]'' etc.).<ref name="Pastoureau">{{cite book|last=Pastoureau|first=Michel |title=Green: The History of a Color|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2014|pages=20–21|isbn=978-0-691-15936-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eRHWBAAAQBAJ&q=green+colour}}</ref> Likewise the [[Slavic languages]] with ''[[:wikt:зелёный|zelenъ]]''. [[Ancient Greek]] also had a term for yellowish, pale green – [[:wikt:χλωρός|χλωρός]], ''chloros'' (cf. the color of chlorine), cognate with χλοερός "verdant" and χλόη "[[chloe]], the green of new growth".

Thus, the languages mentioned above (Germanic, Romance, Slavic, Greek) have old terms for "green" which are derived from words for fresh, sprouting vegetation.
However, [[comparative linguistics]] makes clear that these terms were coined independently, over the past few millennia, and there is no identifiable single [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] or word for "green". For example, the Slavic ''zelenъ'' is cognate with [[Sanskrit]] ''{{ill|harithah|sa|हरितः|vertical-align=sup}}''  "yellow, ochre, golden".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/ie/vasmer&text_number=++4332&root=config |title=Vasmer's dictionary of Slavic etymology |publisher=Starling.rinet.ru |access-date=April 5, 2012}}</ref>
The [[Turkic languages]] also have ''jašɨl'' "green" or "yellowish green", compared to a Mongolian word for "meadow".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=config&morpho=0&basename=%5Cdata%5Calt%5Cturcet&first=1&off=&text_proto=&method_proto=substring&ic_proto=on&text_meaning=&method_meaning=substring&ic_meaning=on&text_rusmean=&method_rusmean=substring&ic_rusmean=on&text_atu=&method_atu=substring&ic_atu=on&text_krh=&method_krh=substring&ic_krh=on&text_trk=&method_trk=substring&ic_trk=on&text_tat=&method_tat=substring&ic_tat=on&text_chg=&method_chg=substring&ic_chg=on&text_uzb=&method_uzb=substring&ic_uzb=on&text_uig=&method_uig=substring&ic_uig=on&text_sjg=&method_sjg=substring&ic_sjg=on&text_azb=&method_azb=substring&ic_azb=on&text_trm=&method_trm=substring&ic_trm=on&text_hak=&method_hak=substring&ic_hak=on&text_shr=&method_shr=substring&ic_shr=on&text_alt=&method_alt=substring&ic_alt=on&text_khal=&method_khal=substring&ic_khal=on&text_chv=&method_chv=substring&ic_chv=on&text_jak=&method_jak=substring&ic_jak=on&text_dolg=&method_dolg=substring&ic_dolg=on&text_tuv=&method_tuv=substring&ic_tuv=on&text_tof=&method_tof=substring&ic_tof=on&text_krg=&method_krg=substring&ic_krg=on&text_kaz=&method_kaz=substring&ic_kaz=on&text_nogx=&method_nogx=substring&ic_nogx=on&text_bas=&method_bas=substring&ic_bas=on&text_blkx=&method_blkx=substring&ic_blkx=on&text_gagx=&method_gagx=substring&ic_gagx=on&text_krmx=&method_krmx=substring&ic_krmx=on&text_klpx=&method_klpx=substring&ic_klpx=on&text_sal=&method_sal=substring&ic_sal=on&text_qum=&method_qum=substring&ic_qum=on&text_reference=&method_reference=substring&ic_reference=on&text_any=green&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on |title=Sergei Starostin, Turkic etymology |publisher=Starling.rinet.ru |access-date=April 5, 2012}}</ref>

=== Languages where green and blue are one color ===
{{Main|Blue–green distinction in language|Color term}}

[[File:Linear visible spectrum.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The notion of "green" in modern European languages corresponds to about 520&ndash;570&nbsp;nm, but many historical and non-European languages make other choices, e.g. using a term for the range of ca. 450&ndash;530&nbsp;nm ("blue/green") and another for ca. 530&ndash;590&nbsp;nm ("green/yellow").]]
In some languages, including old [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Thai language|Thai]], old [[Japanese language|Japanese]], and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], the same word can mean either blue or green.<ref>Paul Kay and Luisa Maffi, "Color Appearance and the Emergence and Evolution of Basic Color Lexicons", ''American Anthropologist'', March 1999 [http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~kay/color.app.evol.ps] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706064208/http://www1.icsi.berkeley.edu/~kay/color.app.evol.ps|date=July 6, 2017}}</ref> The [[Chinese character]] [[wikt:青|青]] (pronounced ''qīng'' in [[Standard Mandarin|Mandarin]], ''[[Ao (color)|ao]]'' in Japanese, and ''[[wikt:thanh|thanh]]'' in [[Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary|Sino-Vietnamese]]) has a meaning that covers both blue and green; blue and green are traditionally considered shades of "[[wikt:青|青]]". In more contemporary terms, they are [[wikt:藍|藍]] (''lán'', in Mandarin) and [[wikt:綠|綠]] (''lǜ'', in Mandarin) respectively. Japanese also has two terms that refer specifically to the color green, [[wikt:緑|緑]] (''midori'', which is derived from the classical Japanese descriptive verb ''midoru'' "to be in leaf, to flourish" in reference to trees) and グリーン (''guriin'', which is derived from the English word "green"). However, in Japan, although the traffic lights have the same colors as other countries have, the green light is described using the same word as for blue, ''aoi'', because green is considered a shade of aoi; similarly, green variants of certain fruits and vegetables such as green apples, green ''[[perilla|shiso]]'' (as opposed to red apples and red shiso) will be described with the word ''aoi''. Vietnamese uses a single word for both blue and green, ''[[wikt:xanh|xanh]]'', with variants such as ''xanh da trời'' (azure, lit. "sky blue"), ''lam'' (blue), and ''lục'' (green; also ''xanh lá cây'', lit. "leaf green").

"Green" in modern European languages corresponds to about 520–570&nbsp;nm, but many historical and non-European languages make other choices, e.g. using a term for the range of ca. 450–530&nbsp;nm ("blue/green") and another for ca. 530–590&nbsp;nm ("green/yellow").{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} In the comparative study of [[color term]]s in the world's languages, green is only found as a separate category in languages with the fully developed range of six colors (white, black, red, green, yellow, and blue), or more rarely in systems with five colors (white, red, yellow, green, and black/blue).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution |first=Brent |last=Berlin |author2=Paul Kay |edition=new, revised  |location=Stanford, Cal. |publisher=CSLI Publications |series=The David Hume Series of Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences Reissues |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-57586-162-3 |oclc=807758450 |pages=2–3 }}</ref><ref>Newman, Paul and Martha Ratliff (2001). ''Linguistic Fieldwork''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-66937-5}}. p. 105.</ref> These languages have introduced supplementary vocabulary to denote "green", but these terms are recognizable as recent adoptions that are not in origin color terms (much like the English adjective [[:wikt:orange|orange]] being in origin not a color term but the name of a fruit). Thus, the [[Thai language|Thai]] word เขียว ''kheīyw'', besides meaning "green", also means "rank" and "smelly" and holds other unpleasant associations.<ref>{{cite web| title =Search for 'เขียว' |website=English: Thai Dictionary OnLine| publisher =4M System| year =2007| url=http://english-thai-dictionary.com/index.php?q=%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%82%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%A7&sa=Dictionary-search&fields%5B%5D=related&siteurl=english-thai-dictionary.com%2Findex.php| access-date = November 30, 2007}}</ref>

The [[Celtic languages]] had a term for "blue/green/grey", [[Proto-Celtic]] ''*glasto-'', which gave rise to [[Old Irish]] ''glas'' "green, grey" and to [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''glas'' "blue". This word is cognate with the Ancient Greek γλαυκός "bluish green", contrasting with χλωρός "yellowish green" discussed above.
[[File:Green dark square.jpg|thumb|A dark green rectangle]]
In modern Japanese, the term for green is [[:wikt:緑|緑]], while the old term for "blue/green", {{Nihongo|blue|青|Ao}} now means "blue". But in certain contexts, green is still conventionally referred to as 青, as in {{Nihongo|''blue [[traffic light]]''|青信号|ao shingō}} and {{Nihongo|''blue [[leaves]]''|青葉|aoba}}, reflecting the absence of blue-green distinction in old Japanese (more accurately, the [[Traditional colors of Japan|traditional Japanese color terminology]] grouped some [[shades of green]] with blue, and others with yellow tones).