Blue is everywhere in our world. We associate it with the sky, the sea, and so many things in between.
Maybe your eyes are blue. The ink in your pen.
Your suit. Your mood. Or your Monday.
It’s hard to fathom that the ancient Greeks didn’t use a word for blue. But linguistic research shows they - and many other cultures - didn’t.
In Homer, there is no use of the word blue. The sea is purple, not aquamarine.
Now it helps to realise that back then, other than sky and sea, not many things were were naturally blue. There wouldn’t be much occasion to point to an object and say ‘this is blue’ or ‘look at the blue colour on this thing!’.
And researchers currently think not having a word for a colour means you probably can’t consciously discern it.
Which means no blue joy for the Ancient Greeks, Chinese, Indians.
Well, we have a word for this stunning colour and we’ll be looking at it, and its fascinating history, all week.
Natural Ultramarine Pigment
Today start spotting all the blue in your life.
See it, capture it and share it on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #kramerseye.