Why The Ancient Greeks Couldn't See Blue

This BLUE my mind, I just had to share.
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Written by Mitchell Moffit
Editing by Luka Šarlija and Mitchell Moffit
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[@MessYourself]

this video blue my mind

[@georgek4416]

Lol, nice one.

[@thefuturegamer5159]

Why does this guy had 6 million subscribers but 2 replys

[@Neuer2777]

BRUH I'VE BEEN A FAN SINCE 2016

[@jhonnasenrico9505]

Get ur ticket 🎫 here before this comment “BLUE” up

[@cofinify]

@@thefuturegamer5159 because the joke was already in the description, he just stole it

[@earburnerspodcast8002]

Imagine being alive when the Blue DLC dropped.

[@jas.per.25]

Glitch in the matrix

[@perfectchild8073]

Lmao

[@supahcomix]

UPDATES: Water is now blue to spot easily from far Sky is now blue to compliment the ocean Blue dyes are now available in the Egypt region Black objects are now blue

[@zheter7990]

Lmao

[@damianmaver4128]

Underrated comment

[@XFD42069]

“Blue is one of the hardest colors to create!“ *Purple: Allow me to introduce myself.*

[@occamraiser]

A bit of trivia. In the renaissance blue was made from powering semi-precious gemstones. So artists would negotiate with their customers how much blue he customer wanted to pay for in the painting (most Madonnas were painted in blue head-dresses if memory serves)

[@man11352]

this comment sucks

[@XFD42069]

@@man11352 …Ok?

[@CyanNStuff]

@@man11352 I request that you to provide a list of your reasons on why you think this comment sucks, along with any sources for any non-opinionated/objective information you may have.

[@elvancor]

@@12bfree4ever4 you got that mixed up, buddy.

[@ed500ac]

As people mentioned below, you will find many references to the color blue (κυάνεος or κυάνος) in Homer's works. Since κυάνος is used to describe steel (σίδηρος) and clouds (νεφέλη νέφος Π 66 Δ 282), it is often translated as "dark blue." However, the rare term "κυανῶπις" (μ 60) can be translated as "blue-eyed."

[@huwhitecavebeast1972]

Yep.

[@TurrisBabylonius]

Exactly. Besides, Homer was blind.

[@ed500ac]

@@TurrisBabylonius Good point. Besides being blind, Homer believed that a goddess was whispering words of wisdom and information about the world and history into his ears. For instance, the goddess informed him that maggots come from the eggs of flies. More than two thousand years later, Francesco Redi repeated the experiment suggested by the goddess and ascertained that she was right. Francesco Redi was an honest scientist and gave priority to Homer. He should have given it to the goddess who whispered the poems.

[@TurrisBabylonius]

@@ed500ac 😁 Ancient Greeks knew more about sciences than medieval Europeans. Fellow classicist here.

[@nefertut6750]

@@TurrisBabylonius omg, nope

[@trustmeimmexican]

Because, back then, everything was black and white. Trust me. I've seen it in movies.

[@entityexisting]

As a kid,I actually believed this to be a fact for quite a while thanks to Charlie Chaplin..

[@opedromagico]

kkkkkk boa

[@simon2776]

I learned that in Calvin and Hobbes.

[@Yaakuwu]

Oh shit you’re right

[@amistake]

I trust you, your mexican

[@irok1]

Can't wait for the sequel in 2020 years when they say "These people couldn't see the color Lepu"

[@guywithdreads]

There are colors we can’t actually see tho

[@cezarcatalin1406]

Poke'mon Trainer Chri$$$ 303 Yeah, you can’t see gamma rays... (And if you can, please leave the area you are sitting in immediately).

[@guywithdreads]

@@cezarcatalin1406 too late becoming the hulk

[@greencrystalsword3713]

I would expect Lepu to be a maybe sapphire color... like a dark version on blue-green

[@Ap1hw]

“How did they live without aprillion??”

[@zachnightingale8156]

The ancient Greeks never used the word 'blue' because they only spoke Greek

[@lauras.6339]

smh

[@truthseeker7815]

This comment failed to blue up

[@cashreedhar]

Blue appeared in ancient text many times, but I'm afraid not in your research. You mentioned ancient Indian text- the word for Blue in Sanskrit is "Neel". Neel is also the word for sky in Sanskrit (many sanskrit words for color are based on object - like orange) It is mentioned multiple times to describe the color of peacock, sky and even Hindu God Vishnu (he had the blue tint). Lord Shiva drank the poison and hence his throat turned into Blue - hence his name "Neelakanth". Mountains afar are described as blue and blue is everywhere.

[@mokeballs6676]

This comment is stupid but I can't be bothered

[@cashreedhar]

@mokeballs6676 stupid because you couldn't bothered to use your brain cells to understand the comment?

[@peterob8980]

Same as the oldest theravada texts describe 6 coloured rays that was emited by The sacred Lord Buddha at the 4th week after lord attained the enlightenment when the lord buddha meditated on the Abhidamma. There the text originally mentioned one colour as "Neela" in Pali language. It means blue. Which is used as one colour in international buddhist flag.

[@Ch0senJuan]

@@mokeballs6676you were bothered though.

[@herbpowell343]

According to Wikipedia, lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan since the 7th Millennium BC: Humans seeing and even seeking out blue is older than civilization itself (Wikipedia further notes that lapis lazuli is also present among artifacts found at Bhirrana, the oldest Indus Valley civilization so far discovered.) It further notes that the Latin word "lazuli" ultimately derives from a Persian word that means (wait for it...) "sky." The worst part is that the video explicitly acknowledges that some people (somehow) thought ancient peoples literally SAW differently than we do solely to immediately dismiss that claim, and yet, the title remains "Why the Ancient Greeks Couldn't See Blue." That's never passed the smell test because it never could. Your regular reminder that "typing words into a search engine isn't actually RESEARCH, it's just a way to (possibly) FIND (some) actual research others conducted. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZ6zeKSVmNpobrs

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

Redheads are called redheads even though they clearly have orange hair because English didn't have a word for orange until quite recently and so orange was once considered a shade of red and yellow.

[@kaberite]

Orange colour was named after the fruit

[@indraservo5764]

And today there are over 20 different names for color red

[@HermanVonPetri]

And brown is just a dark shade of orange. Which means that brown headed people are just "red heads" with a darker shade of the pigment.

[@nicomoist5336]

Or how people were called black regardless of the actual skin tone is more brown

[@GLASSB182]

Like "that fruit called an orange is the color, yellow-red." In retrospect is ideal.

[@_Envous]

It’s 5020 “Why these people couldn’t see Gyret, Brimple, Prattle, Bete, and Ornhack.”

[@requiem1k87]

_yes_

[@thischannelisinactiveimsor9500]

I can see Ornhack, everyday someone is ornhacking my Minecraft server

[@madison9923]

honestly true, though

[@_Envous]

@@thischannelisinactiveimsor9500 i really set it up for that one didn’t i

[@thischannelisinactiveimsor9500]

@@_Envous Yes and it was very Gyret

[@davemmar]

I would go along with this video, if only the narrator told us he had visited ancient Greece.

[@elvancor]

Most investigations into past events don't involve time travel.

[@stevevernon1978]

@@elvancor "most"!

[@neil6477]

I can vouch for the idea of being trained to see different 'colours'. When I worked in a laboratory which made colouring for the food and cosmetic industry, I had to learn minute, subtle differences in shades of similar colours. Initially, I couldn't 'see' them, and thought I would never be able to match them. But, after a few months I did begin to notice the very small differences, and this ability grew with time and experience. One day, out of curiosity, I went back to the two samples I had been shown on my first day of work. I was astonished with the differences I now perceived, and couldn't believe that I didn't recognise them when starting out.

[@Apollo_Dionysus_Hermes]

"The human brain is the most complicated thing in the universe." - The human Brain

[@Apollo_Dionysus_Hermes]

@@avetiq3905 I don't get it-

[@ramuneisyummy-6012]

@@Apollo_Dionysus_Hermes he was makeing a joke

[@Apollo_Dionysus_Hermes]

@@ramuneisyummy-6012 *making Also, I can tell he's making a joke, I just don't get the reference

[@nowonmetube]

This sounds so much like a Futurama joke, lmao 🤣

[@generaza7609]

Universe: I thought the inside of me was the most complicated in the universe. Multiverse: Nah...The inside part of me is the most complicated thing inside your Universe. Null Space (outside the Multiverse): oooooooooooh, I am getting a headache...

[@ansonlui7596]

Of course they couldn't see blue, history was all in black and white. I'm not falling for lies.

[@pradyumnad602]

Big brain

[@elylazpro]

Of course they COULD see blue, because they were humans too!

[@indiramaldonadovalverde778]

ELENI IOANNA LAZOPOULOU r/wooooosh

[@randomlyrandom9974]

@@elylazpro r/wooooosh

[@remistewart3753]

@@elylazpro R/Woooosh

[@saiz1235]

In the Sanskrit language from India, one of the oldest languages in the world predating the Christian era ,the word blue is mentioned as Nila. The Hindu god Shiv is sometimes referred to as Nilkantha. So the utterance of the word blue predates all other languages in the world.

[@marksyzm]

The last explanation sounds right to me. I lost my memory when I was 17 due to meningitis, much like a concussion might affect the brain, and all memory of colours, smell, taste were disconnected, along with word associations. Then when I finally connected with red things like strawberries or tomatoes, I could taste them, and connect all the items that are available. Otherwise before that, the world really did seem all black and white and my perception of colours was mixed up. It makes sense that ancient civilisations wouldn't associate with a colour until their brains evolved to "find" it. Also, while the cones in the eyes are set to frequency bands, we still have to connect with things that we can use to link words to them. It's likely we could differentiate the frequencies but not separate the higher blue frequency from green.

[@Davidschumaker1]

uow, great experience. thanks for sharing it.

[@vickylikesthis]

in indonesian, we call pink "young red"

[@fatgirlballet]

that's adorable

[@AbiRizky]

Oh hello. Yeah that or, "guava red" lol

[@gavinattalahadiyan325]

Merah Muda~~~

[@Mister_Clipster]

It's totally accurate if you really think about it.

[@piranhaplantX]

Honestly, pink is essentially just red's baby blue. Among the other named colors in English, pink is probably the most arbitrary one. It's just a range of red tints.

[@Ivehadenuff]

This explains why having a large vocabulary makes a person have more precise thoughts.

[@nikkiespinosa8854]

More precise, maybe. But more useful? Smarter? Better? That's another story.

[@mermaidismyname]

@@nikkiespinosa8854 eh considering the number of times in my brain I'm like "ya know what's the word for *gestures broadly* ya know that highly specific abstract concept that I cannot describe in anyway but have a perfect feeling of in my mind" I'm going to say that having esoteric vocabulary is sometimes useful to prevent you from going you know the thing with the thing and the other thing...

[@nikkiespinosa8854]

@@mermaidismyname but would the THOUGHT you're having actually be more useful? ...No...Even more so, is it all that useful in communicating to have a large vocabulary with specific words for specific things? Probably only some times. I think people with smaller vocabularies often are far more poetic than people with large vocabularies. "Wine-dark sea" is more poetic than "blue sea," for example. And I often find myself wishing I could talk like people in the rural areas of the USA who are so creative in describing things extremely accurately and poetically using a small vocabulary of common words.

[@sazcxieo]

Also explains why its easier to memorize numbers or dates or events because you associate that number with something for example 23;michael jordan.

[@Azz-M]

Me speaking arabic :

[@ar2arr]

I speak both Spanish and English, and this is something I totally notice. To me saying the sky is "blue" just sounds weird, because in Spanish we have a different word for that color "celeste" (at least in Argentina). And I notice how English speaking people don't distinguish it so much. Sure everyone can notice the different shades of blue, but to me it's just a different color, just like the red/pink example

[@FuckYoutubeAndGoogle]

Sky Blue is the name of the color in English...

[@ar2arr]

@@FuckKZbinAndGoogle oh interesting! I didn't know it was used like that to distinguish it

[@FuckYoutubeAndGoogle]

@ar2arr I'm sure it's at least somewhat true of other languages too, but there are a ton of names for colors in English. Most of which just aren't used much in day to day life, and a lot of them are just putting light or dark in front of a color, like Light Blue or Dark Blue. There some more specifics as well, Sky Blue and Baby Blue are both shades of Light Blue, so for either of those you could call them Blue, Light Blue or Sky/Baby Blue and be correct, even though only 1/3 of those names actually distinguish those 2 colors from each other.

[@asimong]

@@ar2arr like azzurro in Italian...

[@icle-ytir]

​​​​@@ar2arrI feel the same many rip off sites and google and KZbin just want to advertise and continue the grift

[@drheathersebo1949]

The details and decoration on early archaic Greek statues were painted with azurite which gives that brilliant blue colour, traces of which survive.

[@nathanm.8823]

I'm going to start describing my eye color as wine-dark.

[@Nepthu]

LOL! I like it.

[@theshamanite]

Right on

[@CristiNeagu]

I usually do, after about a bottle's worth, and i have green eyes.

[@nathanm.8823]

@@CristiNeagu Lol sounds like fun

[@sophroniastopher15]

Yes!

[@user-kv8gf7zv9n]

“Why the Greeks can’t see blue”: Greeks: Hey, you guys like the invisible flag?

[@user-kv8gf7zv9n]

The joke is Greece’s flag is Blue. 🇬🇷

[@user-kv8gf7zv9n]

@@october17leftyjason32 🤡 Take a joke

[@flare8197]

@@october17leftyjason32 so white flag

[@user-vg2cz4cq5h]

@Victor Mace in what all foreigners call Greece, a proud people called Ellines(eng. Hellene) live...and they call their country Ellada, or Ellas(eng. Hellas. Greece , Grecia, and Grecos are names from the days of Rome, which Romans used. We are the Hellenes and we still have the DNA to prove it despite conquests. Eat your heart out

[@user-vg2cz4cq5h]

Modern day Turkey was once Ionia, and Byzantium , even there the population has a large proportion of its DNA from the Hellenes, you must realize that the natives simply coverted to Islam to preserve their property rights and avoid taxation.

[@stevesloan7132]

"To venture out upon the wine dark sea." There was some speculation that Homer may have been using the color of deep red wine in a terra cotta cup to describe the color of the sea at a certain time of day. As in early dawn when the Sun is at a low angle and the tide is right for sailing or starting a journey. Translation of ancient languages into the modern is an art, not a science. It must take into account both the literal as well as the "felt" meaning (i.e., the emotional content) which the ancient author's phrase actually carried. And to get that right is no mean feat.

[@fplbenchwarmers6144]

This is really fascinating! Thanks

[@aarnaasharma6518]

Imagine 10 thousand years later somebody making a video : Why ancient millennials and Gen-Z's couldn't see the colour "Terp"

[@themodernviriato9383]

Exactly!!

[@saltycelery2045]

True

[@wolf12345]

I’m colorblind so I didn’t know what color that was

[@juliecooly3]

😂😂😂

[@daniellevy4104]

Yeah probably , and also probably you will be there to see it.

[@Miguel-cn5lu]

I mean they weren’t wrong calling the sky “black” because it is technically black at night

[@iakovojackgr6729]

You have black photo

[@xerotolerant]

Lol. The sky is still ‘blue’ at night. Stealth jets have lights along their surface to match the blue of the sky at night. Otherwise they would just appear to be giant black objects against the blue background.

[@nikifora.738]

@@iakovojackgr6729 his photo is blue

[@iAMJaws]

@@xerotolerant in actuality the sky is not blue. It's colourless by itself but due to external factors it changes.

[@MojaKann]

technically 😂

[@eepruls]

Fascinating! I really enjoyed this video.

[@osheridan]

It's unfortunately not really true though. Tired rn but I will provide sources soon

[@PoisonelleMisty4311]

Fascinating insights! This video really made me rethink how language shapes our perception of colors. Great job!

[@user-ex8uv8mb4t]

In fact, language has very little influence on the way a human being perceives the world. See John McWhorter's The Language Hoax, or, Why the World Looks the Same in Every Language.

[@owenleech6569]

"But blue? it was one of the hardest colors to create" Purple: hold my beer

[@flakey-finn]

Purple? Blue? Arent that black?

[@GoldenGrenadier]

RIP snails.

[@ThisIsNotAhnJieRen]

@@GoldenGrenadier Hahaha. Is there a country flag that has Purple?

[@davincent98]

@@GoldenGrenadier don't forget the mollusks. Also the urine.

[@jimezsmoots2172]

@@ThisIsNotAhnJieRen no, due to purple being extremely hard to create, countries didn’t have the money to create them through dyes. Quick lesson here, basically too expensive and too time wasting to create for stuff that needed the flags. Such as army’s and shit

[@fruitcake1513]

The language part is also seen when a child doesn’t recognise swearing until they know the word

[@AngelC4K3]

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy a lot as a kid. I did not know the words, sh*t, damn, b*tch, and a*s, were words.

[@fatherdog346]

@MIA they couldve been 7 when it came out. i mean imo theyre still kids but they're an older kid

[@evilhutdug4665]

@@fatherdog346 yeah but he said “when I was a kid” implying he was no longer a kid

[@JosephFlores-yn4yi]

@@evilhutdug4665 he could had been 10

[@xxJing]

I find the concept of swearing funny. They’re words that people want you to dogmatically avoid, but because they are taboo that very fact makes so many people want to use them. It’s like a self fulfilling prophecy.

[@barisgurkann]

In Turkish language, we have pretty much the opposite happening. We have two distinct words for lighter shades of blue and darker shades of blue ("mavi" for lighter and "lacivert" for darker) and no word to define the whole shades of blue. I think due to this distinction, two shades of blue are almost considered as different hues.

[@Mr-Eternal]

@@eyb0ssss Gök means sky. And çakır is name of another color, not blue.

[@yvesclepkens242]

What an interesting channel, thank you!!

[@fcv4616]

Ancient Greeks: “I’m feeling wine-dark today”.

[@rockingamingwiththesahit2145]

Lmfao

[@anikaloves]

drunk?

[@rockingamingwiththesahit2145]

@@anikaloves No, I’m feeling blue today

[@paranorman6999]

Amandaishere.jpg Sweet Amanda, in the Lake Wonder how much She can take Cut Her finger, take her ring Bruise her up, black as sin Shoot Her down, blind her eye Bury Her in the night. See the arms, shake in fear Here She is, Amanda is here. A woman named Amanda married a therapist. A patient of this therapist was obsessed with him and jealous of Amanda, so She kidnapped her, took her to Sorren lake, in Cascada Mira Park, and tortured, blinded, shot and buried her, and also She stole her engagement ring after cutting off the finger. The cops found Amanda bc She tried to crawl out of her grave and died with only the arms sticking out of the mud. Since she didn't want to be forgotten, Amanda came back as an image. As a vengace, a photo of Amanda must be shared in order to avoid being killer or haunted by her.

[@theodoranaku3403]

Με

[@ROBYNMARKOW]

On Wednesdays we wear a light form of red.

[@chrysanna8896]

Outstanding.

[@fcv4616]

I see what you did there 👌🏼

[@aadhyaivaturi495]

noice mean girls

[@KarateLauren]

sneaky reference, comrade

[@iamdog4864]

Love this

[@Eggy79]

Ancient Greeks: there is no blue Current Greeks; Blue is the only color we have

[@Fight4FatalFrame]

This blue my mind. Thank you!

[@customsongmaker]

"Why Homer couldn't see blue" - he was blind

[@ferocient]

God, I love this comment! ;-)

[@thebad6246]

Or maybe because you can't see colours if you don't exist.

[@customsongmaker]

@@thebad6246 - The Odyssey exists. Therefore, someone wrote it. We refer to that person as Homer.

[@bernard7057]

@@customsongmaker but we also refer to the people who wrote different poems as homer. So wouldnt homer, at this point, be more lile a job title

[@customsongmaker]

@@bernard7057 - I try not to refer to different people as the same person. Have you considered the possibility that Homer wrote different poems?

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Ancient Japanese didn’t have a word for green. 🇯🇵 It was just a shade of blue. They still call the stoplights red and blue, even though it’s green! 🚦

[@danravv]

Yeah, it confused me a lot when I lived in Japan. They also call green apples, "blue" apples.

[@sophroniastopher15]

They know what's up

[@sadisrmaacy4341]

what do you mean "even though its green". its as much their definition as our.

[@ZZMJo]

Yellow+blue=green. Well, they are not wrong...

[@slfanta]

Lol ancient Japanese,,, That's because ancient Chinese didn't have a word to distinguish blue and green. Both blue and green are described as the same color 青 in Chinese and also in Japanese 青い (Aoi)

[@GinnyEvergreen]

That's so coooooooolllll thank you for starting my day so interesting!

[@GreznykGaming]

Awesome video! I loved this! Content was awesome, perfectly articulated, great video editing. Loved every minute and shared it with friends.

[@CopperCettle]

but this video is totally inaccurate, and false

[@tammyclairs166]

It’s like when you meet someone new in school and “suddenly u see them everywhere”

[@septiikos9680]

Yeah I like that analogy

[@SpinningSidekick]

Otherwise known as "stalking"

[@Octopixel40]

when you learn a new word and start hearing it more often

[@peter-jx3uc]

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

[@ad5048]

*The year is 3100* OurTube: Why Ancient Europeans Couldn't See Blurple

[@vellivampire]

😂😂😂 i don't understand man clearly they were colourblind. They didn't even knew Rorange and Pellow🤷

[@user-eb5gd4gm2w]

"Ourtube" 😂😂

[@adityabarettaputra6786]

How about Blite?

[@Pokemaster-wg9gx]

The funniest part is the Discord logo color is literally called Blurple

[@mlokgerm]

Are you trying to say that communism took over

[@Greyjoy91]

Holy crap, is that Mitch Moffit from BBCAN4?! I loved this video and I’ve subscribed faster than any other channel!

[@ImageRedacted]

Have you ever experienced a particular type of Deja Vu where you seem to notice something more after hearing about it? Consider the example of seeing a fleet of cars in a parking lot. Your mind processes them as mere vehicles, without any particular significance. Yet, upon visiting a car dealership and learning about a specific brand, even if you believe it to be a rarity in your area, you begin to perceive it almost everywhere. In fact, it becomes a commonplace feature of your daily life. This phenomenon is truly fascinating, and it raises questions about how our minds perceive the world around us. This might in fact, be the reason for *all* of this.

[@aliciakoepke560]

This actually makes so much sense. As a kid cyan was just blue, beige was yellow, lime was green, magenta was pink etc.

[@rajanyapurohit5113]

wait, magenta isn't pink?

[@WAanik]

As a colorblind adult, all those still resemble similar things.

[@insoft_uk]

Magenta is 100% of Red and Blue totally different to Pink as that contains 100% red and then a certain equal % of Green and Blue, so Pink is a colour just not a true colour Brown is actually Dark Orange so another none true colour

[@ninjawafflezz5356]

When I was a kid I would just refer to them as "Dark blue and light blue. Dark green and light green. Maybe ones darker than the dark one, guess the middle one is just green now." Magenta would have been "light purple" for me.

[@ninjawafflezz5356]

@@rajanyapurohit5113 I always stuck it in between purple and pink. Idk if it really belongs there but that's what I did

[@ruqayahamad2393]

"the limits of my language mean the limits of my world" Ludwig Wittgenstein

[@mwanikimwaniki6801]

I use this a lot lmao

[@jonasandelfinger4529]

Kluftinger ftw

[@mrkanenas]

I had this realisation last night. Language is so powerful

[@astraeusgodofthestars676]

Time to learn a lot of languages.

[@davidweihe6052]

Wrongo, Wittenstein Fan. Sapir-Whorf has been disproven many times in many situations. There is just a subtle difference in classification speed. Russians would distinguish between navy blue (which is not sea blue, but designed by Navys to be distinguishable from sea blue) and sky blue slightly faster, because they have different words for them (much like the red/pink distinction pointed out in the video).

[@D4NC3Rable]

This video just lives in the back of my brain now. Thank you.

[@yang_er]

In Chinese (Mandarin), there exists a color called 青色 (Qīng sé). Traditionally this color has been used to refer to both green and blue. For example the sky is qing but so is the green Lake. Jade (a naturally green stone) is also said to be of this colour. While in modern times it refers to mostly a bluish-green/sea-green shade, in ancient times it referred to green, blue, and everything in between. This also happens to be my favorite color in the world

[@PlanetIscandar]

*@yang_er* So then you are using a variant of turquoise, .i.e. the greenish variant of it. If you do more research you might find even more answers, but, as i think, one of the problems with ideograms, is that they have a limited ability to represent things like "abstract meanings" etc.

[@WeAreOneNature]

@@PlanetIscandar Surely the word 'turquoise' conveys zero abstract meaning. My understanding is that Chinese ideograms are loaded with much symbolic meaning that is lacking in English words.

[@georgesj.5995]

Exactly the same for Japanese. The Kanji are the same, but the perception of this green-blue seems to have predated the introduction of chinese ideograms around the 7th century !

[@user-ng7um3xw4b]

Interning in Northern Ndebele (Zimbabwe) we have the same word for green and blue but you need a qualifier to be specific which version of the word you mean.

[@jgunther3398]

In English, the color "turquoise" is the color of a stone that ranges from sky blue to sea green.

[@Baobabooo]

In old Japanese, we call green “ao” meaning “blue”. We still call green signal “ao-shingo(signal)”. I always thought it was strange, but I guess we had way more words to describe colors back then.

[@wolf12345]

I’m also Japanese just cool that ur here

[@Baobabooo]

@@wolf12345 heyyy what’s up!👋🏻

[@mhdfrb9971]

aozora ni naru song

[@AsapSCIENCE]

Very cool!

[@Primalxbeast]

But there's a kanji for green, so I guess that the Chinese had a word for green before the Japanese?

[@sanahameed9832]

You know it’s kind of like meeting new people. Before you meet them they blend in with the crowd, but after meeting them, they start popping up in the hallway all the time

[@thedevil9442]

they still blend in with the crowd for me.

[@brotherandrew3393]

I grew up with black and white TV. A TV with colors we had the first time in the end of the 70th. They existed prior to that but were very expensive. Having said this we actually had no problem with movies that only showed us white, black and all variations of grey in between. Somehow in a subconcious way we "gueesed" whether this kind of gray was really green, blue, yellow or red. Of course we knew that gras was green. So we "saw" it in movies that offered landscapes although what we really saw was a shade of grey. Etc.

[@Langkowski]

It's like sitting in diner with people talking everywhere around you. If someone says your name, even if it has nothing to do with you, you will hear it immediately.

[@patrikcath1025]

**learns to identify every hex RGB code** *Mortals, I can see through your camouflage*

[@lexecomplexe4083]

Until you learn you can no longer see magenta because it isn't real 😓

[@hridyanadappattel4400]

Unless you come across animals like mantis shrimp

[@4n0ngaming]

@@lexecomplexe4083 magenta has a hex code

[@lexecomplexe4083]

@@4n0ngaming Magenta isn't an actual color though. Its literally red and violet light alternating at a speed high enough that your brain interprets it as a new color. One that doesn't exist in the physical world. Magenta is quite literally an illusion

[@unlimitedgnar1955]

When I got a new car, I suddenly started noticing that everyone had my car model verses before I never even noticed that the model existed

[@MerxadMehr]

Selection bias

[@trudycolborne2371]

My registration says my car is gray when it's clearly a light golden yellow. Now I notice every car with the same paint colour. The parking lot search has trained us.

[@untitled2792]

@@trudycolborne2371 were they colorblind?

[@SkyManBGProductions]

I bought a fanny pack and suddenly everyone in my town started having one out of nowhere 😂😂

[@justinbolsen3053]

dunning krueger effect

[@ssas15]

The guy with Tritanopia declaring himself *Ancient Greek* :

[@samh808]

1:53 “Blue is the final color“ Purple and Orange: 😔

[@FarfettilLejl]

Magenta entered the chat

[@zn316]

Purple doesnt exist though Violet does

[@shrexyavocado7828]

Grey and Brown: *hello*

[@Geerice]

@@zn316 Yet there's a word for it

[@soosramirez2510]

i’m sure it’s bc they’re not primary colors

[@phlave]

When you learn a new word and start seing and hearing it everywhere it's a sign that you should clear your cookies in the Matrix.

[@michaelwalker8250]

You're funny

[@davidgumazon]

Certificate (Valid) Cookies (69 in use)

[@ncheedxx0109]

Fascinating stuff. In the 4 Bantu languages, I know there's no word for Blue. Even tho southern Africa has some of Bluest skies in the world & for most days of the year. Indeed, it's one of the first things European visitors & tourists comment about: "Oh, how Blue your sky is!" Something which we take for granted here. In these languages, Blue is seen as a version/type of Green & is called "the Green of the Sky". Now you have taught me this is not that unusual after all. Thanks a lot.

[@littlemissapplecore]

I think the best example for English speakers to understand the thing with recognising pink vs red is Italy does the same thing with blues, if you describe the sea as blue to an Italian they’ll scold you cos they make a strong distinction between what we’d think of as a navy or royal blue and azure, where we’d probably see that colour range as all just blues they separate azure out like we do with pink😊

[@blackhawks81H]

Cyan, is blue. "Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek κύανος, transliterated kyanos, meaning dark blue, dark blue enamel, Lapis lazuli"

[@billkeithchannel]

But yet in modern times cyan is a light blue.

[@JTNashville]

Kinda puts the kibosh on this whole video. Nice one.

[@alexanderhenby1362]

Except that isn't exactly true either. Entomologicaly speaking the word κύανος "According to Beekes, probably from Hittite (kuwannan-, “precious stone, copper, blue”), likely from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to shine, white, light”) (compare *ḱweytós (“white”)" It was likely used previously to describe the oxidation of copper which anyone who has been to New York can tell you, isn't blue.

[@charimuvilla8693]

@@alexanderhenby1362 In ancient greek it is very clear "κυανος" means blue. Telling you this as someone who has studied ancient greek. This video is painful to watch lol.

[@cherylmcginnis7696]

@@alexanderhenby1362 The medical term for someone turning blue due to lack of oxygen is cyanotic.

[@shaded3293]

This could explain why artists can see color very well, and give each one a name.

[@justaname6011]

Trained their brains maybe, from interacting on a daily basis with the need to know this

[@hairglowingkyle4572]

Depends on the artist, I can't remember the names but I'm like "Ah yes this pinkish darkish reddish yellowish but a little but of violet color"

[@rjvasquez3464]

@@hairglowingkyle4572 definitely this. i can see small differences like which is warmer or cooler but I don't think i can name colors accurately

[@randomuser3988]

Also why people who are music nerds can differentiate between genres, but my mom says "what is this metal junk?" every time she hears an electric guitar 😂

[@matandana110]

@@hairglowingkyle4572 this is me I think the brown that has a tint of sap green

[@YoshiCookie]

As the video points out, this was true across all ancient civilizations. Many other colors were also combined. For example, in ancient color yellow and brown were the same color. That’s why the Yellow River (in China) is named so despite being entirely brown. Fun fact - in Chinese pink is called “powdery red,” since pink is truly a hue of red.

[@apricotslay3586]

Wow I'm so glad I clicked on this video and watched it!

[@eloraromich7121]

This is true. That's why they are called 'red' onion, when they are clearly purple. There didn't used to be a word for purple.

[@madisworld9470]

that’s wild

[@Sharish747]

I coloblinding

[@Sharish747]

Jost codding

[@dh4444]

Colorblind:

[@elijahmikhail4566]

I’m a native Tagalog speaker. In addition to purple onions being called red, brown sugar is called red sugar, and eggs have a white part and a red part. Most people grow up using English nowadays though, so most people are primed for distinguishing between red, orange and brown. We just use red in those archaic contexts cause those are everyday objects that I guess people didn’t see the point of renaming.

[@yourmum7135]

'There arent many blue foods' Percy jackson is typing...

[@rockygive7400]

Penguinz Gamez hello fellow pjo fan

[@calebbangean5341]

I love those books

[@Potato-gn4di]

Blue waffle blue cookies blue cake blue, I should stop now

[@epanije6086]

Blue cookies!

[@salmaosama7867]

Sally Jackson is typing...

[@camspks]

Fascinating. More please! 👍😄

[@thekejofglory]

It's like when looking at traditional architecture. Most people would easily spot an old building, regardless of styles; but when you study the different elements and styles of architecture, one could differentiate easier the differences between styles or how the different elements are unique and have separate visual functions.

[@jacobkrueger1022]

That feedback loop is also responsible for the weird feeling of when you get a new car, then all the sudden you see people driving the same car as you everywhere.

[@ateshhastam]

Baader -Meinhof phenomenon aka “frequency illusion.”

[@icarusbinns3156]

And yet! I’m hearing my name a heck of a lot more now than just two years ago. That’s the bizarre thing to me

[@majesticpbjcat7707]

Like how I remember as a kid in the 80's and 90's always reading and hearing the phrase "all of a sudden" yet now I read and hear many people saying "all the sudden." Doesn't sound right to me though.

[@bloblovlalalulu3422]

Same with buying a shirt or dress. Suddenly everyone around has the same thing dammit!

[@Dana-ki6vs]

@@bloblovlalalulu3422 probably because you are caught up with the trends and buy stuff at the right time 😂

[@Silvermage447]

Title: Why the Ancient Greeks Couldn’t See Blue First minute: OK so they could see blue but they didn’t have a word for it

[@fap9067]

yeah, click bait on a science channel...

[@robloxaccountant7086]

Thank you for voicing my annoyance with the title. I am distraught ;_;

[@chrisrenfro2058]

Thanks for saving me 7 minutes

[@chrisrenfro2058]

@Angry Hippo you must be fun at parties

[@444haluk]

they had a word for it: black. blue was a shade of black and it was the number one color, not the last one. The sky was always black, just with different shades of black (hence different shades of blue).

[@paulanthonywallis9818]

Thank you for this fascinating analysis. I picked this up in Plato, who srote in the C4thBCE. He describes the colour of our planet's oceans as seen from space with a word conventionally translated as "purple" - a colour dye which had been around since the C6th BCE.

[@halamardini1239]

Pleeeeeease start posting the sources too!

[@TheRedEncryption]

just make a word for every color possible and *_T R A N S C E N D_*

[@toldfable]

RGB or CMYK

[@HaroldoPinheiro-OK]

All the ten million?

[@TheRedEncryption]

@@HaroldoPinheiro-OK Yes

[@benny4798]

@@TheRedEncryption what about a word for every sound, smell, feel, touch and taste as well? You can’t truly transcend without doing it for all your senses.

[@extragroovy735]

Literally every makeup brand

[@navytav]

Somali doesn't have a word for "purple." All my friends would say it was either a dark blue or sometime a dark pink.

[@ishmaelm1932]

Warya beenta jooji. purple is "barbal" Lmfaoooo

[@navytav]

@@ishmaelm1932 Macalimiintayda u sheeg!

[@IronNidow]

In Portuguese we have 2 words of purple: Roxo( closer to Blue), and Lilás (closer to Red)

[@bradleyvrooman1801]

I can't even see purple lol. It's just dark blue to me. I also can't see green, it's just a brown or orange. Art class was fun when I was a kid.

[@gaybeansprout]

Purple doesn't even exist ._.

[@stephendisraeli1143]

A more likely possibility is that they could see it, but regarded it as one of the shades of green rather than as a colour in its own right, so they did not bother giving it a separate name. Even among modern English-speakers, the actual boundary between green and blue is debatable. We talk about deep "blue sea", but "Yellow Submarine" says "seas of green".

[@stevieberg]

What if ancient people saw the sky turn from blue to black at night so they assumed that black is just the darkest shade of blue and light black is blue, so that is why they didn’t need a word for it. Even the ocean at night or at depths is black.

[@KS-sj8nb]

It's like the Eskimo/Inuit having no word for 'snow', but lots of words for different kinds of snow.

[@arkrules8557]

No... there was "cyan" meaning blue in ancient Greek. And many others covering basic colours and shades

[@arkrules8557]

Not only in Ancient Greek in Koine but in Modern Greek too. Some say κυανόλευκη (cyan-white) Greece's flag instead of blé (blue)

[@Polyglot_English]

Детерминизм это Свобода 🤙

[@kanyekubrick5391]

That makes sense why, in the Odyssey, they kept describing Athena’s eyes as “foamy, ocean.. *grey* “

[@xl000]

ocean gets its color from the sky... so if the weather is meh.... the water will look accordingly

[@aserta]

It's ok. Not like we mention to you, young pups, that we used to have to spend hours to boil eggs just right to get balls for our computer mice.

[@saracole7623]

That’s why they describe her eyes as grey!!! She actually had blue eyes! Oh my hackers!

[@twystedhumour]

@@aserta that's fast. i used to wait for quail to lay eggs to get one for mine, and then i boil it.

[@daerdevvyl4314]

If your eyes are foamy, see a doctor.

[@parkour267]

Learning a new language and culture of my wife we are always arguing on the shade of a color. This was the first thing I assumed when watching the video. Great explanation

[@svenelven138]

A great example of this in action using one's eyes, is when you get a new car (or new to you), you suddenly notice all the same vehicle on the roads around you that you "never saw before" when you are out and about in traffic. It is super weird but that is the same mechanism in action for our brains. You saw the car you just bought all the time but never actually "noticed it" before.

[@HBStone]

"Blue is the final color to enter the language in every single culture." That's it guys, we got blue, time to wrap up the whole color naming project.

[@calebbyers]

Way underrated.

[@88cameras]

Crayola never got the memo.

[@myvideosetc.8271]

Not in japanese, even in the 1800-900 they dis not have "green"

[@willbray__]

Bloo

[@dannyrudderham5122]

Blue is definetly my favorite flavour. Blue tastes better than any other colour.

[@BriggsWare]

Imagine in the future where other people are surprised we can not see Humulkus

[@dashboardu]

What is it.

[@alecity4877]

@@dashboardu a colour between red and green

[@psyducktective]

And octarine

[@trudycolborne2371]

This explains a great deal about my son's Among Us videos complaining about cyan.

[@40watt53]

Wait y'all can't see humulkus?

[@andysedgley]

I guess the "hearing a new word" is similar to the "I never saw this model of car on the roads until i bought one" effect.

[@jameji]

for communication, our assignment was to assert if people affect language or if language affects people. this would have been a great example! (also looking at how Mandarin speakers describe tigers as being Yellow)

[@oldchannelnewoneisinaboutp3726]

greek: "looks up the sky" the sky: [REDACTED]

[@nthgth]

Scp foundation?

[@michellevillanueva4709]

Inquisitorial red tape?

[@imperatusmauser7096]

Im greek, can confirm

[@toothpasteman3400]

or [data expunged] and █████████

[@jbb8261]

Error: 404 not found

[@deltacat27]

People in 2000 years: Why The Ancient Earthlings Couldn't See Ultraviolet

[@MrMirville]

Yes they could see it, they could even manufacture lamps of that color of light, but they called it black light even though everybody was perfectly aware that such a black had nothing to do with the colour of the starry night.

[@Demogorgon47]

People in 20000 years, Why Ancient Earthlings couldn't see colours in 5 dimensions.

[@williamjones4164]

@@MrMirville You cannot actually observe true ultraviolet light. It isn’t possible for humans; although, we can observe the effects UV light can have on certain substances and the violet visible light usually emitted along with the UV light (e.g. torches usually operate by emitting a small range of wavelengths so there can be overlaps between UV and the short wavelength visible light which is violet in colour hence both are present).

[@CaptainSlapaDome]

@@williamjones4164 yup. On the same token, I read a study some years back (2009 - 2011) about a birth "defect" that comes to women from their fathers side, somehow granting them true 3d vision, or the ability to see the whole color spectrum. It was estimated that the numbers of women with this defect, worldwide, measure in the low thousands. I wonder how things would look from those eyes.

[@andrerobatino6298]

@@williamjones4164 People with a condition called aphakia (a missing lens in the eye, most often caused by cataract surgery) can see ultraviolet to about 300 nm (the range for normal visible light is about 380 to 720 nm). The lens normally blocks it.

[@joselitodascandongas4821]

People saw blue in antiquity. The Egyptians called it irtyu or khesbedj (𓐍𓋴𓃀𓆓𓈒). The ancient Hebrews called it Tekhelet. The ancient Romans called it caerŭlus. The sky appears blue in some Pompeii mosaics.

[@HooseOfWidnes]

This is a bit like Italy now but in reverse. They have a word for Blue (Blu), but then they have a separate word for light blue (Azzuro), like we do for pink. They would never call the Italian football kit Blue for example, it's Azzuro to them. Just like we'd call Palermo's kit pink and not light red.

[@shreyashrout6563]

Can we just appreciate the person who had to read through all the text to find out there wasn’t the word blue in it

[@dimitrarena5643]

Well.... No. Cause apparently they refer to one text. There is tons of evidence of the word blue in Greek texts and as I read in the comments, in Indian as well. This is misinformation

[@pixelatedcherry]

dude, i had to read it in school. it’s not that hard.

[@marta1999smile2]

bruh, these books are around 300 pages long. its genuinly not that hard to read through them😂

[@xtaylorxboyx]

@@pixelatedcherry what’s the name of the book you had to read for school?

[@KP-we9ce]

Ever heard of data processing?

[@WestonNey]

“Blue is the hardest color to make.” Then how did that bully turn my face black and blue so easily?

[@PredatorH2O]

Well I bet it didn't feel very easy to you.

[@marijuanaknowsomething6743]

Because black was present. Now if he made your face straight up blue then that would be impressive. Lol

[@looka698]

You mean he gave you blue eye? Or did he give you black eye 🤔?

[@rusyaidiamir7445]

Alec benjamin fan will understand

[@anutpalgogoi9741]

There there

[@TheDrigodamus]

Same when you get a new car, you start to see it everywhere…

[@sandraioana6359]

I cant belive you actually made monney on this Video.

[@pawel-_-]

Fun fact: blue was so rare, that lapis lazuli - now considered to be semi-precious stone - was once more important then gold. Lapis also often was depicted as magical and thanks to that we can see it having magical abilities in games like Minecraft and other media.

[@prakharmishra3000]

That's a real stone? Never knew

[@BeingBhumika]

@@prakharmishra3000 Yeah it is! We study about it in history

[@TheKarret]

@@prakharmishra3000 I bought a soap that had a lapis lazuli stone on it!

[@prakharmishra3000]

@@TheKarret I wonder if your skin is fine :P

[@tristans_]

@@prakharmishra3000 it’s what they use to make blue oil paint actually.

[@ENLSLive]

Everyone: Why did the ancient greeks not say the word "blue"? Me: Well probably because they didn't speak english idk

[@defectivepikachu4582]

some of them were pretty smart tho you never know

[@andik70]

@@defectivepikachu4582 hahaha. Well, there was no english at that time, isnt it.

[@Atariese]

To be fair: "Its all Greek to me" - Shakespeare

[@bunja9101]

@@defectivepikachu4582 the English language didn't even exist yet you donut

[@miguelthealpaca8971]

@@bunja9101 hey, don't be so hard on him/her. He/she is a defective Pikachu, afterall.

[@ygzpdygzpd700]

True. I remember myself as a 6 month old, and I had no words for color, every shade of every color was unique. Top of the leaf would be one color and the bottom of the same leaf, a different one. Or the leaf would change color when it was lit differently. In fact, when outdoors, everything that moved was changing color all the time. Stationary objects changed color when the clouds moved. Also, in Russian language, light blue and dark blue are two different colors.

[@angelthman1659]

Regarding the Photoshop example, any color on the darker spectrum leads to black, not just blue.

[@Arkylie]

One Minute In: "We figured maybe all Greeks were colorblind, but that's silly. Me: Have we considered the theory that *Homer* was colorblind?

[@gamergamer1296]

Homer was actually blind 😑

[@iluvchess14736]

Homer is believed to be blind because if there's a bard, its always blind when he writes about it Homer was a bard

[@hyrekandragon2665]

Well in those times if you were blind being a bard was one of the very few jobs you could have. So it's not too uncommon to see blind bards

[@jackb4691]

In one episode Homer makes a reference to Marge's blue hair, so no.

[@EleneDOM]

@@jackb4691 Best comment here today!

[@craigbell8373]

Me in class: this is boring Me in my free time: Hmm yes the sky is blue

[@needlessoptions]

Most teachers are not very entertaining, plus if you're forced to be there you're not gonna be as enthused anyway.

[@paytondelaney8316]

@@needlessoptions preach it!

[@aneanderthalscout37]

@@needlessoptions facts and this is why a lot of people benefit much more from educational KZbin videos that entertain you while stale schoolwork doesn’t

[@BionicPig95]

One writer from a region of the world doesn’t mention a particular colour. “Guess the people from that region were unable to see that colour”.

[@lilacchocolate]

Fascinating!!! 👏☺️

[@JDsVarietyChannel]

So this explains why after you buy a new car, you realize almost everyone on the road has the same one as you, and you no longer feel special. :-(

[@ladyduchezz4239]

I'm a fan since the start cus I was dumb

[@curious5218]

Nice catch!

[@anujarora0]

It's called Baader- Meinhof Phenomenon

[@Fiction_Supreme]

If you buy the base model then yeah you're going to see it everywhere.

[@DZ477]

Same here, I bought an expensive and rare car called the Toyota Corolla, but then I started noticing that car everywhere.