Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark)
Subject: Re: Orange
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Date: Sat, 5 Nov 1994 23:34:11 GMT
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In article <39erlk$4d@stratus.skypoint.net>,
Charles Gimon <gimonca@mirage.skypoint.net> wrote:
>Once again, I'm posting here in the hopes of settling a discussion elsewhere.
>
>The English word "orange"...we've got it traced back to Sanskrit "narangah".
>So far, so good. 
>
>Now, was it originally a word for a color, or for a fruit?

From my memory of the explanation in the O.E.D., the Sanskrit word refered
to the fruit.  I think there is a discussion in Berlin and Kay on whether
'orange' was a basic level color, since by their definition a 'basic'
color could not be the name of some other kind of object, but somehow
they decided to include 'orange' as a basic color.  Perhaps modern English
speakers think the word primarily refers to a color, even though the 
etymology suggests the word comes from a fruit name, not a color name.

David Mark
dmark@sun.acsu.buffalo.edu
