синий

[Jules Levin]

On 3/11/2012 2:44 PM, Paul B. Gallagher wrote:
>
> <http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/голубой_цвет>
>
> This article opens with the following fascinating sentence:
>
> Голубо́й цвет — группа оттенков синего с небольшим смещением в сторону 
> зелёного, таким, что ещё совсем нет ощущения зелёного оттенка, либо 
> светлые оттенки синего цвета. Спектральному голубому приблизитально 
> соответствует оттенок 130 в цветовой системе MS Windows (hex-код 00BFFF).

This article links goluboy to the pigeon 'golub', but entertains the 
possibility of a reverse direction.  Highly unlikely, since this species
name is of course attested elsewhere in Indo-European.  Moreover, pigeon 
names seem to lend themselves to color terms, cf. dove-colored in 
English.  The question is not if, but rather WHICH pigeon species is the 
source.  The domesticated Rock Dove, a staple of farmsteads of the 
ancient Mediterranean, may not have reached the forests of central and 
Eastern Europe in time to provide the source.  More likely is the wild 
European Wood Pigeon, see the picture at
http://www.dovepage.com/species/exotic/europeanwoodpigeon.html.  I would 
describe the color as a pale grayish-blue.

Jules Levin
Los Angeles
"The Birdman of Desert Hot Springs"

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