I. DESCRIPTION OF COLOURS.
A. Simple Natural Colours.
1. By this the Hebrews properly desig nated the simple natural colour white. It is applied to a fleece (Gen. xxx. 35, 37), to milk (Gen. xlix. (12), to manna (Exod. xvi. 31), to hair diseased by leprosy (Lev. xiii. 3), to gar ments (Eccles. ix. 8), to horses (Zech. i. S), etc. The corresponding Greek term is Xembs, though this is sometimes used in the N. T. to designate something more than mere whiteness—the dazzling brilliancy of light reflected from a bright surface (Matt. xvii. 2 ; xxviii. 3 ; Rev. i. i4 ; comp. Joseph. De Bell. 7ucl. v. 5. 6 ; Hengstenberg on Rev. i. 14).
2. m. This word, from nn', to be bright, of a dazzling white, is sometimes used to denote that which is bright, clear, shining (Is. xviii. 4 ; Jer. iv. I I ; Is. xxxii. 4). It is used once of colour (Song of Songs v. r0), where it is joined with n1.1N, and designates the natural white of a healthy and beau tiful countenance. It is said to be the intensive of but this may be doubted ; p9 is used to describe the purest white ; nv rather describes the brilliancy of the complexion than the intensity of the colour. Sept. Anwar..
3. mri• This word occurs only in the Chaldee of Dan. vii. 9 ; but it stands connected with the Hebrew lin, white linen, and the verb itn, to be come white, as the face does when shame causes paleness (Is. xxix. 29). It is used in Dan. of snow, to the whiteness of which the colour of the gar ment of the Ancient of days is compared. Sept. XeicOs.
4. or Zilt.P, to be gray or hoary (I Sam. xii.
2) ; hence rITV, grayness or hoaryness (Hos. vii. 9 ; Sept. 7roTactt).
5. ire. This is the proper term for black. It is applied to hair (Lev. xiii. 31, 37), to horses (Zech vi. 2), to the plumage of a raven (Song v. 1). It is used also for a swarthy countenance (Song i. 5). The verb from which it comes is used (Job xxx. 30) of the countenance blackened by disease. Sept. yeXa.s, except in Lev. xiii. 31, where we have probably in consequence of the use of this word in the preceding verse.
6. of a dark-brawn hue, from Din to be burnt, to be dark-coloured ; used of sheep (Gen. xxx. 32, ff.). Sept. Iratbs (= xpb3aa tic preXopos Kai XEvicoli, Suidas.) 7. ?;;;, the proper term for red ; used of gar ments stained with blood (Is. lxiii. 2) ; of a heifer (Num. xix. 2) ; of a horse (not as Gesenius gests, because of its being of a chestnut or bay colour, but because of its symbolically indicating bloodshed and war, Zech. i. S ; vi. 2) ; of water (2 Kings iii. 22) coloured either by red • earth (Ewald, Keil, Furst), or by the rays of the rising sun (Thenius) ; of the complexion of a young and beautiful person (Song v. so) ; comp. IniN, Lam. iv. 7. To express the subordinate idea of reddish, a diminutive from this word ninTg is used (Lev. xiii. ro • xiv. 37). From it also is taken the name which designates the ruby or the garnet.
8. fn. This word is used (Lev. xiii. 3o) to describe the colour of the hair of a leprous person. In the A. V. it is rendered yellow; LXX.
; Vulg. Hawes. It was probably of a dun yellow inclining to red.
9. rrj:, a pile green colour, inclining to yellow ; used of fresh herbs (2 Kings xix. 26 ; Is. xxxvii. 27), and as a noun to designate the produce of the garden generally )a, a garden of herbs, Dent, xi. ro, etc. ; comp. our greens). Another noun from the same root, jr+, yerey, is used to designate generally all vegetable products (Gen. i. 3o ; ix. 3, etc.) Another cognate noun yemqon, is used of the greenish pallor which fear produces on the countenance (Jer. xxx. 6), as well as the peculiar greenish yellow hue of withering plants (Dent. xxviii. 22 ; Am. iv. 9 ; Hag. ii. 17 ; A. V. blast ing). Where the yellow predominated still more over the green the word used was p1P1' y'raqraq (Lev. xiii. 49 ; xiv. 37, greenish, A. V. ; Ps. lxviii. 14, yellow, A. V.) The word pv, m ' a n is fre quently translated green in the A. V., but it has no direct relation to colour; it means fresh, vigorous, flourishing ; it is green only in the translation.