Some students of linguistics have come to the conclusion that our ancestors were color-blind. Max Muller, for example, points out that there is no Sanskrit root with reference to any definite color

Brooke, Maxey

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216 TOUCH BLUE MAXEY BROOKE Sweeny, Texas Some students of linguistics have come to the conclusion that our ancestors were color-blind. Max Muller, [or example, points out that there is no Sanskrit root with reference to any definite color. The earliest colors recorded are the red and black of chess men. About the time the Rig Veda was comoosed, yellow was recognized. Then came white. followed by 15reen. Xe nophane s knew of anI y th ree colo r s of the rainbow - - pu rple, red and yellow. Aristotle also spoke of the tri-colored rainbow. Demo_ critus knew only four colors -- black, red, white and yellow. The Bible mentions the sky more than four hundred times. There are long passages in the Rig Veda describing the sky. The Odyssey and the Iliad have sky references. None of them describe it as blue. Homer docs use the wo rd glaukos which can mean blue, green 0 r grey. Indeed, the Old Teutonic root blawo seems to mean grey. In any event, today blue is the second most frequently used color word (after red) , according to Kucera and Francis's Computational Analysis of Present-Day American English. Perhaps the oldest reference to blue is in the Hittite story of Kessi, the Huntsman. His mothe r gave him a skein of blue wool for protection when she sent him on a pe rilous jou rney. Even today, br ides wear for good luck 1 something old, something new, something bor rowed, some­th ing blue' . Blue is the color of virtue (true blue). It was the color adopted by the Scottish Presbyterian Whigs as oppose d to the Royalist Tory red. OUf blue laws are a direct descendant from them. And blue stocktng, now meaning intole rant, came from the same pe riod when God- fear ing persons wore blue worsted stockings in contrast to those of black silk worn by royalty, To be blue is to be despondent. This comes from seeing blue devils when very drunk. And a blue Monday is a bad Monday when we return to work with perhaps a touch of hangover. (In Germany, a blue Monday is an extended weekend, a holiday Monday.) It also refers to the eight­eenth century naval practice of noting offenses during the week and a!'­ranging floggings (Or punishment the following black and blue I Monday.I The Germans would use the term I green and blue' for this effect on skin. But in del' is an To us story is s In Gel blue lette envelope, drunk. In Ital gali, you expressio Blue 1: ian famili no Mooris stand out When sometime gethe r an( Needl~ Pi T.riple Tv When W1 Smoke M< When this say I toud delightful Touch that our 1tS out that ess men. 19nized. purple, red DelTIO_ I. :s. The re Odyssey and blue. Home r rey. Indeed, sed color ·utational ,ry of Kessi, Ir protection es wear for wed, some­. adopted by Tory red. e stocki.ng, Jod- fear ing . black silk .g blue devils 1 we return to ue Monday to the eight­'eek and ar­lue I Monday. effect on skin. 2.17 But in France, to be blue is to be amazed. In German, a blue won­der is an amazing event, something that happens once in a blue moon. To us, a blue story is an off- color story. To a Frenchman, a blue story is simply a tall tale. In German, a blue eye is a black eye, a blue haze is a swindle, a blue letter is a letter of dismissal written on blue paper and in a blue envelope, blue cabbage is our red cabbage, and to be blue is to be drunk. In Italian, a blue voice is a crooning voice. In both French and Ben­gali, you become blue with rage. I Til all is blue 1 was an old Engli sh expression describing the effect to drink on the eyesight. Blue blood is royalty. This originated in Spain where some Castil­ian families asserted they had sangre azul, meaning that in them was no Moorish or Jewish admixture. Why blue blood? Because the veins stand out blue when the possessor is fair-skinned. When two people start to say the same thing simultaneously, they sometimes go through a little ritual of hooking their little fingers to­gether and reciting in alternation: Needles Pins Triplets Twins When a man marries, his troubles begin What goes up the chimney? Smoke May our friendship never be broke When this happens to the Shona (a Bantu tribe in central Africa) , they say I touch blue' and they both touch sa.me blue object. I find this a delightful custom. Touch blue! 

Touch Blue

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Touch Blue

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