Why is colour called colour?

Question

The thing is colour isnt really that colour! everything is rather deceptive as its only chemicals with different properties that refelct different wavelengths of light. So would it also be possible to dicover new things from this understanding? like why we see how we see and how other animals visualise things?

Answer 1

There is nothing wrong with insight, it is just a couple of hundred years late and there are recorded long arguments about the philosophy of seeing ("color does not exist, it is only in the mind") and the physics of white light - go look at Newton's work.

Answer 2

Your question and your statement are really two different things.As to why it is called colour as perceived by the human eye,it has to be called something,if not colour,what?. Hue,tint possibly,but why these names anyway.Your statement that the colour seen by a human is the result of a particular wavelength of light being reflected is correct but as all humans see it similarly,does it matter.The particular name we give to the colour seen be it red,blue yellow or whatever is immaterial.The naming and perception of colours is essentially human and has nothing to do with animals.The comparison of the vision of various animals is an entirely different subject.Colour as we understand it would only play a small in this comparison.

Answer 3

YES ,,, will try to exlain upto a certain extent,,, when you see the light through a dew drop you see rainbow colors but,, if you paint those colors together it will only give you blak,, ( heavy light beam is white adn when you spread it it will give you different shades,,, but when painting it will give you black when it is mixed together,,,,they say ( paint ppl) : it has vibrant clr, fresh clrs, warm clrs, and calm clrs,, etc.,, The color combination is good to have an emotional boost as well,, a rule of the thumb would be to use the 70:20:10,,, combination,, 70% of the room should be in a dominant clr, 20% in an intermediate clr and 10% in an accent color,,, ie., something like a skirting that provides visual relief....

Answer 4

Because when the word "colour" was invented, no one understood the scentific basis behind it.

Theoretically, I guess we could start saying things like "The suspect has eyes that reflect blue light, and was wearing a sweater which reflected green light" - but even if you do that, you're still using the words "blue" and "green".

Or maybe we could say, "The suspect has eyes that reflect light of xx wavelength, and was wearing a sweater which reflected light of yy wavelength".

Personally, I can't really see either of those catching on, though.

Answer 5

I think that colour is just a general word used in the english dictionary.

I mean imagine choosing the paint for your house, and asking the paint company..."Can I have this wavelength?" :-)

However, in scientific institutions they actually refer to colour with the respective wavelengths.

Answer 6

Because Black people come in different color tones some are light skinned some are very dark and some are in the middle of the two. But White people are white some are pale of course but over all they are the same.

Answer 7

Well I'm not sure why they call it colour but I do know that Sir Issac Neuton had created the color wheel. You know the same guy that had made gravity. I guess he named them colors because of how dark or light they were.

Answer 8

Everything needs a name. Colour is just called colour. :)

Answer 9

Have you looked up the derivation? I expect that there is quite an oeuvre in the scientific literature.

Answer 10

The world colour comes from Old French (c1225) word colur, which came from the latin color (colorem), this came from the Old Latin word colos, which means "a covering" (to hide, conceal).