yeah this is not just with yoruba or igbo language. It's like that with most african (at least west african) languages. no specific names for the colors just the things they are associated with like u guys mentioned.
ex. brown = iyepe (sand)

i dunno why tho. I have a west african teacher who was talking about that but I don't remember her comment.

tpia.:

my mum's side is mixed,  not Igbo.

The emphasis was on the last syllable, as oh-doh-dou

Oh okay.

oyinda.:

yeah this is not just with yoruba or igbo language. It's like that with most african (at least west african) languages. no specific names for the colors just the things they are associated with like u guys mentioned.
ex. brown = iyepe (sand)

It's like that for every language.

these are setswana translations

white= tshweu
black= ntsho
yellow= serolwana
green= tala
red= khibidu
light brown= tshetlha
orange= mmala wa namune( which is colour of fruit orange)
blue= tala wa legodimo

i dont know other colours

Yesterday I saw a beautiful flower.

Nyahu n fu ototo ma nma.

It was Yellow

O cha edo.

It was Red

O cha urie

ChinenyeN:


It's like that for every language.

no it's not like that for every language. lol

oyinda.:

no it's not like that for every language. lol

Really? Do you mind giving me any examples? because, as far as I know, the only colors that are truly abstract are white and black. All others derive themselves from, or are referenced to, something else (I could be wrong though).

blue, green, brown, red, purple, grey, yellow. . . are distinctive and specific names of colors in english as opposed to awo ewe (color of leaf) or this "color of" type of definition in yoruba.

and i don't know what you mean by abstract the topic is talking about having specific names for colors. lol
ex the word for blue in yoruba. there is none. you have to say "color of sky" "color of water" etc

oyinda.:

blue, green, brown, red, purple, grey, yellow. . . are distinctive and specific names of colors in english as opposed to awo ewe (color of leaf) or this "color of" type of definition in yoruba. 

Do you know the etymologies of those words?

.

@chinyere
yes many colors even in english today are called by what they are associated with so you're correct in that sense ex. ruby red, emerald green, ice blue etc  I will say that this common knowledge of a wider spectrum of colors can be associated with technological advancement.

and what are the etymologies of red, green, blue etc. i'm sure even black and white have etymologies too. all words do!!

tpia.:

Yorubas do not describe blue by comparing it to the sky, unless they're talking of sky blue. (highly doubtful).

There's a specific word for it which is Aro. This was confirmed for me by someone I know who is fairly well versed in Yoruba.

There's also a particular type of cloth specific to traditional Yorubas I think, which is colored dark blue. I dont know what its called but it may be aro. It looks like tie dye.

I was making an example since that's how I would describe blue.
how come they don't teach these stuff in schools? I'm sure many other yorubas don't know the words for the colors.
yea the word aro does means dye (usually with blue shade). I didn't know it was also the word for the color blue though. thanks for the information.
what's the word for green, purple, etc I would love to know those as well.

.

you guys posts are not showing (chinyere and tpiah) but i go to your profiles to read them and i find them interesting.
yea same thing happens to me too sometimes.

When a language grows and adds new words into its root vocabulary, thats a sign of progress, imo.

do you mean that yoruba for example needs to add new words into our vocabulary. ex simple words for the basic colors. doesn't really matter the etymology as long as there are words for the colors. lol

aro for example. I never knew about that. even though it derives from dye it's still a word for blue and i'm satisfied with that.
I will ask my parents if they know the yoruba words for other colors because I didn't grow up learning them (and i'm sure it's the same for many other people if not, this topic wouldn't be created).

it will be interesting to find out what the word for pink is in yoruba (if it exists that is).

.

oyinda.:

you guys posts are not showing (chinyere and tpiah) but i go to your profiles to read them and i find them interesting.
yea same thing happens to me too sometimes.

Yeah, it's very interesting.

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Can you translate this Colours In Your Language?
« on: June 29, 2009, 09:37 PM »

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I am yoruba and we only have three words for different languages: white (funfun), black (dudu), red (pupa) but my teacher wants to find out what we call blue, green, yellow, brown, and pink.

For example, how do you say these sentences in your language?

Yesterday, i saw a beautiful flower. It was (pink/purple/yellow) ______________

Yesterday, i bought a new blanket. It was (brown/green/pink/purple/red) ________________

Yesterday, i bought a new dress. It was (brown/green/pink/purple/blue) _________________

[quote][/quote]

Mo ri ododo kan ti o rewa lana, o je alawo pupa resuresu (pink)/elese aluko (purple)/ofeefe (yellow)

Mo ra bulankeeti (don't know Yoruba word for blanket!) tuntun lana, o je alawo kofi ^{i.e coffee} (brown)/ewe(green)/red(pupa)

Mo ra aso tuntun lana, awo re je ti aro (blue)

bolorunfem

Thanks a lotttttttttt for that translation.


mzansigirl

Thanks a lot for that translation, man you language must be really broad. By the way, are you from botswana??

bolorunfem

i thought blue was ayinrin but you called it aro, please could you explain that further.

davidif:

bolorunfem

i thought blue was ayinrin but you called it aro, please could you explain that further.

My apologies. The word 'ayinrin' completely skipped my memory and I decided to use 'aro' in its place. Thanks for supplying the correct translation.

Red  - ja
White - fari
black - baki
green - kore or Tsanwa
blue  -  shudi
purple  - alkashi
yellow - rawaya
grey  -  toka toka
brown  - kasa kasa

NB  Sadu Zungur in his poetery said-- " karya ce mai launi bakwai
                                                                   - da fari da baki ga rawaya,
                                                                    -ga kore ga kuma alkashi
                                                                    - toka toka da ja sun gauraya ----

blue = azzraq

pink = zohri

black = aswad

nagoma and kahtiri, what languages are you guys speaking?

mzansigirl
Thanks a lot for that translation, man you language must be really broad. By the way, are you from botswana??
[

@ davidif

u welcome. no i am south african (southern africa has about 4,5 million batswana, 3 million are south african while about 1.5 million are botswana nationals )

Thanks. This is Hausa West Africa,

For the yorubas in the house,if you happen to be a good student in your yoruba class,then you would understand the logic behind the yoruba version of different colour name.Why red = pupa,why green = awo ewe etc.
Do you all remember this topic in yoruba? ORO AYALO(borrowed words).u rememeber that there are oro ayalo afetiya(borrowed word by hearing),oro ayalo afojuya(borrowed word by seeing).
For more detail,come and register to my extra mural class on yoruba.

I think brown is 'ayinrin' in Yoruba.

RED- VERMELHO
BLUE- AZUL
GREEN- VERDE
PINK- COR DE ROSA
YELLOW- AMARELO
WHITE- BRANCO
BROWN- CASTANHO
GRAY- CINZENTO
BLACK- PRETO
PURPLE- LILAS
ORANGE- COR DE LARANJA

Àwæn Àwö

Colors
firstolalekan@yahoo.com
dúdú -Black/dark
àwö sánmà -blue
àwö ara -brown
àwö ewéko / aligà -green
àwö eléérú -gray
pupa -red
funfun -white
ìyèyè -yellow
wúrà -gold
fàdákà -silver
àwö elésè àlùkò -purple
pupa fêêrê -pink

Hmm, interesting. Many people don't know the colors?

From what I know in Yoruba:

Yellow - àwò èsè
Orange - àwò osàn
Blue - àwò sánmà or àwò àyìnrín
Green: àwò ewé
Red: àwò pupa
Purple - àwò aró
Pink - àwò pupa fééré
Brown - àwò ara
White - àwò funfun
Black - àwò dúdú
Silver - àwò fàdákà
Gray - àwò eérú
Gold - àwò wúrà

Etc.

Norwegian:

Yellow - gul
Blue - blå
Red - rød
Green - grønn
Purple - lilla
Pink - rosa
Black - svart
White - hvit
Silver - sølv
Grey - grå

Etc.

in yoruba colors are derived from land (minerals). therefore dyes are made from vegetative roots. when mixed with animal fats you then produce many different colorations or hues of the dye. there are three primary dyes in yoruba culture but many different hues in a wide spectrum.

the primary ones are :

aro - blue/black
osun - red
efun - white


the hues are

dudu - brown/black
pupa - red
funfun - white (bleached)