# Celtic languages: glas



## WestFevalia

Hello,
I’ve seen that the Breton word g_las,_ which is often translated as _blue_, actually refers to the _colour of the sea_. It can mean _natural _green (in opposition to _artificial _green, i.e. painting), grey, white, pale, murky etc.
It seems that _glas _exists in all Celtic languages and refers to blue, natural green etc. but I wonder if it has exactly the same meaning: the _colour of the sea_.
Thanks in advance for your answers!


----------



## L'irlandais

As "green" it refers to the colour of vegetation.  





			
				OED said:
			
		

> Glasgow city in Scotland, from Gaelic, literally "green hollow," from *glas *"green, verdant" + cau "hollow."
> Source : Online Etymology Dictionary


----------



## WestFevalia

Thank you, L'irlandais. So it doesn't refer to the _colour of the sea _in particular?


----------



## Tegs

In Irish and Welsh it doesn't refer specifically to the colour of water. Glas in Welsh means blue, although in some contexts it can refer to green. In Irish it means green.


----------



## WestFevalia

How scatterbrained I can be! I'd mixed colour of the sea and colour of water. All is corrected, although it doesn't matter very much!


----------



## L'irlandais

Colour of the sea, would be (something like)_ dath na farraige _in Irish.  Glas doesn't convey this meaning, in Irish.
By the way, glas can also mean a lock, in another context.  Un cadenat / une serrure.

A glass of water is practically colourless.

A swimming pool appears blue, because the depth of water absorbs the red component of light reflected from the bottom of the pool.

The term "sea green" in English, may be attributed to the way water absorbs light, first the red, then orange, yellow and finally green component.  So the ocean should reflect blue just as a swimming pool does ;  but often we get some green reflected too.  Depends on the depth, I guess.  Under a leaden sky, the sea will look grey/black.


----------



## rhitagawr

I'm not a native speaker, although I speak Welsh frequently. With that warning, I'd say that _green_ is very much a secondary and older meaning of _glas_. _Glaswellt_ is Welsh for _grass, _for example. I'd always say_ glas _for_ blue _and_ gwyrdd _for_ green. _I've never heard anyone say_ glas _to mean_ green._


----------



## Tegs

Yes you're right. You get glas meaning green when you're talking about growing things, such as in the word grass as you mentioned. You have set phrases like porfa las, caeau gleision etc, although you'd probably read something like that more often than you'd hear someone saying it (e.g. in descriptions of scenery etc). Glas also means green as in young or inexperienced. But having said all that it most commonly means blue.


----------

