In:Anthropology of Color: Interdisciplinary multilevel modeling
Edited by Robert E. MacLaury, Galina V. Paramei and Don Dedrick
[Not in series 137] 2007
► pp. 211–228
Get fulltext
Color terms in ancient Egyptian and Coptic
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Published online: 21 November 2007
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.137.14sch
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.137.14sch
The examination of the ancient Egyptian-Coptic color terms, their grammatical identification, their range of usage, and their etymologies permit the following conclusions: There are four BCTs, all verbs, ‘black,’ ‘white,’ ‘red’ and ‘green,’ as traditionally translated. The focus of ‘red’ is in the red range and not in the middle of the red-with-yellow range. The focus of ‘green’ lies in the green range and not in the middle of the green-with-blue range nor in the pale green range. In the final, Coptic, stage, the partition of the red range into ‘deep red’ and ‘light-red’ must be assumed. The traditional written language allowed additional place for further verbal color terms, but these never entered the colloquial language as BCTs. Among these alternatives, the use of ‘lapis lazuli-colored, blue’ is strikingly common; that of ‘charcoal-like, black’ and ‘golden’ is less common. Egyptian did not develop a BCT for either blue or yellow. Basically Egyptian-Coptic remained at B&K Stage IIIa.
Cited by (12)
Cited by 12 other publications
Brassard, C., A. Evin, C. Ameen, S. Curth, M. Michaud, D. Tamagnini, K. Dobney, C. Guintard, S. Porcier & H. Jerbi
Donnat, Sylvie
Urbani, Bernardo & Dionisios Youlatos
Verbovsek, Alexandra
Warburton, David Alan
Warburton, David Alan
Warburton, David Alan
Warburton, David Alan
Warburton, David Alan
Warburton, David Alan
Warburton, David Alan
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
