An attempt to reconstruct the meaning of al‐Tusi's color words. Issue 2 (6th April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kirchner, Eric; Gorji Kandi, Saeideh; Saeedi, Hosein
• Is Part Of: Color research & application. Volume 41:Issue 2(2016:Apr.)
• Page Start: 206
• Page End: 216
• Publication Date: 2015-04-06
• Subjects: color -- history of colorimetry -- color naming; Color -- Periodicals; 535
• DOI: 10.1002/col.21960
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0361-2317

Abstract

Abstract: In a text dating between 1259 and 1277, the Persian scholar al‐Tusi presented a systematic arrangement of 26 color terms. We propose a reconstruction of all color terms from al‐Tusi's scheme, in terms of preferred translation, mean CIEL*a * b * coordinates and digital representation. This reconstruction is based on a visual experiment with 30 subjects, who identified the Munsell chip best representing each color term. Persian words for which the meaning changed since the time of al‐Tusi were substituted by direct translations. The results show considerable interobserver variability in the colors selected when identifying color terms. This relatively large variation was shown to be a characteristic for memory matching experiments in general. Several specific color terms for which the resulting color variation was particularly large are discussed in more detail, and possible explanations for these variations are proposed. The proposed reconstruction suggests that al‐Tusi's list is largely consistent in modern colorimetric terms, although some large hue shifts are observed for color terms corresponding to green. We found no evidence for blue‐green ("grue") confusion. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 41, 206–216, 2016