# gray (grey)



## ThomasK

How do you translate 'grey' in your language, this mixture of black and white? Does it also refer to a lack of vitality, lack of youth, etc. ? 

Dutch
- *grijs *(just grey)
- *grauw *(grey and unpleasant - _grauwe armoede_, grey poverty)


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## apmoy70

Hi TK,

Grey (noun, name of colour): *«Γκρι»* [gri] (neut.) < Fr. _gris_.
Grey (adj.): *«Γκρίζος, -α, -ο»* ['grizos] (masc.), ['griza] (fem.), ['grizo] (neut.) < It. _grigio_.
Greyish: *«Γκριζωπός, -πή, -πό»* [grizo'pos] (masc.), [grizo'pi] (fem.), [grizo'po] (neut.): hybrid word, Fr. _gris_ + productive suffix for forming adj. in both ancient & modern Gr. denoting attribute *«-ωπός» -ōpós*  (PIE *okʷ-, _to see_) 

Ancient Greeks used different names for the various shades of grey, i.e.
*«Μύϊον» múiŏn* (neut.) --> _mouse grey_ < masc. noun *«μῦς» mûs* --> _mouse_ (PIE *mūs-, _mouse_).
*«Τεφρόν» tĕpʰrón* (neut.) --> _ash grey_ < fem. noun *«τέφρα» tépʰră* --> _ash_ (PIE *dʰegʷʰ-, _to burn_).
*«Μολυβδοῦν» mŏlubdoûn* (neut.) --> _lead grey_ < masc. noun *«μόλυβδος» mólubdŏs* --> _lead_ (with obscure etymology prossibly an Anatolian loan)
*«Ὀνάγρινον» ŏnắgrinŏn* (neut.) --> _ass grey_ < masc. noun *«ὄναγρος» ónagrŏs* --> _wild donkey (equus onager)_; compound, masc. noun *«ὄνος» ónŏs* --> _donkey, ass_ (with obscure etymology, probably a Pre-Greek word) + masc. adj. *«ἄγριος» ắgriŏs* --> _wild_ < PIE *h₂eǵ-ro-, _field_,
etc
 In general, grey refers to dullness, dimness, sluggishness, neutrality, lack of vitality & energy


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## ThomasK

Quite surprised that the adjective seems based on the noun though. We do not really have a noun for colour (just determiner plus adj., I think: _het rood_). 

The association with dullness, lack of vitality, might be fairly general. Let's have a look whether it has some such meaning in non-Indo European languages...


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## apmoy70

ThomasK said:


> Quite surprised that the adjective seems based on the noun though. We do not really have a noun for colour (just determiner plus adj., I think: _het rood_).
> 
> The association with dullness, lack of vitality, might be fairly general. Let's have a look whether it has some such meaning in non-Indo European languages...


Modern Greek has many stranded adjectives turned into nouns i.e. adjectives that have in time replaced the noun they modify, and are considered in the modern language as nouns, e.g:
*«νερό»* [ne'ro] (neut.) --> _water_ < *«ὕδωρ νεαρόν»* --> _fresh water_.


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## ThomasK

How interesting... I cannot think of such an example in Dutch right now, but it is not impossible there is something like that in Dutch as well...


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## ahmedcowon

*In Arabic:*

ash = رماد /ramād/
grey/greyish = ashy = رمادي /ramādi/. It can also be used to mean "intermediate" , "unclear" , "neutral".

We don't use it to refer to lack of vitality/youth.


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## arielipi

Hebrew:
grey (color) - אפור afor.
greyish - אפרורי afruri - something that is not special,boring.
greyish (grey like color) - אפרפר afarfar.
ash - אפר efer


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## ThomasK

So in both meaning the name of the colour refers to ash, does it? The origin of _grey/ grijs_ in Dutch does not seem clear though...


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## arielipi

I cant tell, since ash is grey, which came first


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## ThomasK

Well, we do say _asgrijs_, from time to time, as opposed to _muisgrijs _(mouse), but the basic word is grey/ gray. Can you then say 'afor hair'? Or something like a grijsaard, a grey-haired person, i.e., an elderly person, even very old?


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## arielipi

Yes indeed.
שיער אפור se'ar afor (colloquial). correct speech - sey'ar afor.


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## rusita preciosa

In Russian the color is *серый */seryi/; I believe some Slavic languages have cognates. We do not use серый for “grey haired” though, we have a separate word *седой */sedoy/, which is not a cognate.

*Cерый *can indicate lack of intelligence, talent and/or personality when talking about a person, or lack of brightness when talking about weather/day.
*Cедой *is associated with age/ageing, but in rather positive sense (experience, wisdom...)


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## ThomasK

I see... So the colour is a word "in its own right", isn't it? It does not refer to ashes, does it?


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## Ёж!

No.
Apart from those cited by *Rusita*, it refers to lack of life and differences as well.


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## Outsider

In Portuguese the general word for grey is *cinzento*, an adjective formed from *cinza, ash*.

This word is mostly associated with dreariness (*um dia cinzento, a gloomy day*) or with shade (*céu cinzento, overcast sky*). 

It is not directly associated with old age. Grey hairs are either called "white" (*cabelos brancos*), or described by the specific phrase *cabelos grisalhos*. Although _grisalho_ derives from *gris*, which is another word for grey, this one is uncommon nowadays, and I dare say the connection between _gris_ and _grisalho_ has been lost to most people.

I can't think of a direct connection with poverty, either.

For "greyish" there's also the participle *acinzentado, a + cinzento + ado*.


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## rusita preciosa

ThomasK said:


> I see... So the colour is a word "in its own right", isn't it? It does not refer to ashes, does it?


 
No, *серый* and *седой* are not related to “ash”, but we also have *пепельный* /pepelnyi/ (ashen – from пепел (ash)). I can’t think of any meaning of пепельный other than simply a shade of gray (light gray / salt and pepper).


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## arielipi

Also in hebrew:
מאפר me'afer is the action of tipping a cigarette to make the ashes fall.
מאפרה ma'afera is the thing your supposed to put in the ashes of a cigarette.


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## ThomasK

As for the association with poverty, Sr Outsider, I think this 'dreariness' might be the link. But I suppose it is not associated with poverty in Portuguese...


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## francisgranada

Hungarian:

*szürke *(of Finno-Ugric origin)

In a figurative sense, someone who is average, not extraordinary, nor very interesting etc ... (but not "lack of vitality or youth").


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## ThomasK

So you can refer to hair and to persons, not to poverty, so I gather.


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## mataripis

The Tagalog word for Gray is "Abuhin" from Abo (ash color).


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## francisgranada

ThomasK said:


> So you can refer to hair and to persons, not to poverty, so I gather.


Also to the life, in the same sense of average, not very interesting.  To hair yes, but for the color of old(er) people's hair there is another word: _ősz._


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## Outsider

ThomasK said:


> As for the association with poverty, Sr Outsider, I think this 'dreariness' might be the link. But I suppose it is not associated with poverty in Portuguese...


The dreariness, or shabbiness, could certainly be associated with poverty, though it's not an association that immediately springs to my mind.

The sense of "average", which other posters pointed out, would also be possible, though not entirely obvious, in Portuguese.


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## ancalimon

Turkish:  boz & kır  (we also use the more general-universal  "gri" when talking about the colour itself )

From Proto-Turkic: *boŕ

"boz" (bor~phor among Ogurs) is related with courage and earth and wolf..  It's also related with North and ice. 

"kır" is related with the steppe and to get hoar (kırağı), to get a little whiter, greyish.


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