“Ancient cultures have more developed and nuanced sensitivities to colour than contemporary societies. In all areas, there is not just one colour black, but several.”
That’s roughly translated from French in this book I’m reading from historian Michel Pastoureau, Noir – histoire d’une couleur (Black: history of a colour, there is an official English translation).
This is his second book in a series about the history of colours, focused mostly on European history and culture (the author’s speciality and field of scholarly research).
It’s a fascinating read, first in the introduction to appreciate that the meaning we tend to associate with different colours nowadays is cultural, and different from what it had been in the past.
Until recently, and for a long while, black and white were not considered to be colours. In antiquity and the middle ages, they were though.
I’m paraphrasing a few bits I thought worth sharing here, namely that there used to be several words associated with the colours black and white.
Colour was also a matter of expressing light (bright/dark, matte/glossy), matter, texture, surface (smooth/rough), and saturation. In Latin was done with different words, prefixes, and suffixes.
Black is about fighting off darkness and a quest for light.
In Latin, as well as ancient German and English, there were two distinct sets of words for the colours black, one for matte black and another for bright or glossy black.
Some ancient cultures even set more emphasis on other areas of perception than chromatic tone, so brightness, density, or texture was more important than tone.
I find it difficult to wrap my head around, but apparently because of this, in ancient Greek and Latin for example, there is a word that designates and means both blue, and black (‘kuanos in Greek, ‘caeruleus’ in Latin).
No wonder some ancient texts are tough to translate, and placing these words and meaning back in their cultural context is extremely challenging.
It’s mind-boggling to consider that if I had someone from ancient Greece or Rome looking at the editor with a black screen background I’m typing on now, would have multiple words to choose from to name and describe this colour, when I just have one in mind.
Next time you look at a brand logo, a sign, or an ad, keep in mind that whatever interpretation you have of the colours involved, not only did past cultures have different ones, they also had more words to express what they saw.
Pretty wild.
Black: The History of a Colour, by Michel Pastoureau https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4867312-black
