The semantic comparison of elementary color words

【Abstract】 Color has a close relationship with our life， it’s the key problem of human beings researching into the language and culture， and we can say， it’s impossible for us to live a beautiful life without the various color. Hence， it’s an eager task for us to study the color words， including its connotation，and it’s translation between the Chinese and English.

【Key words】color words elementary translation

The scientific research shows that the colors， which have been known by the human being， are no less than seven millions， nevertheless， the color words are only several hundreds. The words which are used to express the color in every nation are varied， but the division way of color between Chinese and English is almost similar，both using the seven divided way. We can get this from the following source language and target language:

赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞？ 雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍。

Red， orange， yellow， green， blue， indigo，violet，

Who is dancing， waving this colored ribbon against the sky?

The sun returns slanting after the rain， And hill and pass grow a deeper blue.

In this poem， seven colors are used to describe the color of rainbow after the thundershower of summer. It’s completely consistent with the description of rainbow in the English Encyclopedia.

Because of the difference among the physical， the physiology， the psychology， different custom and language expression， the basic color words of English and Chinese also have many differences.

Red

In Chinese， red also refers to “赤色”. As it estimated， there are more than 40 words are used to express red in Chinese， for example“金红、绛红、橘红、水红、桃红、猩红、血红、大红、墨红、枣红、朱红、玫瑰红” and so on. Although Chinese is famous for its profound linguistics， there are not so much equal words to express the red of English in Chinese ， so sometimes it’s difficult for us to translate.

Sometimes the “red” of Chinese is not perfect consistent with the “red” of English， for example，in English，“红糖” is “brown sugar”， “红豆” is“love pea”， “红运” is “good luck”， “红利” is“dividend”， “red ruin” refers to “火灾”， “a red battle” refers to “血战”， “red tape” refers to “官僚作风”， “red sky” refers to “彩霞” but not “红天”， we can take the following idiom for example:

Red sky at night， shepherd’s delight，

Red sky in the morning， shepherd’s warning.

早霞不出门，晚霞行千里。

Green

In Chinese， green is a multi meaning word， it can show the different color in the different word’s structure. For examples:

1.小麦青青大麦黄，原头日出天色凉。

When the barley is ripe the wheat is green still，Upon the field the sun rises dispersing a chill. 2.座中泣下谁最多？江洲司马青衫湿。

The assistant prefect of Jiangzhou is so moved，

That his blue coat is wet with tears.

In Chinese， “qingshan” sometimes is translated into“blue hills” or “green mountains”. For example:

1.绿水青山枉自多，华佗无奈小虫何!

So many green streams and blue hills， but to what avail?

This tiny creature left even Hua to powerless! 2. 红雨随心翻作浪，青山着意化为桥。

Crimson rain swirls in waves under our will，Green mountains turn to bridges at our wish. White

The “white” of Chinese is not completely equal to the“white” of English. When we mention the race we often say “the black people”， “ the yellow people”， “the white people”， but “她皮肤白皙” can’t be translated into “she has a white skin.” It should be “she has a fair skin/complexion. That means， when talking about the skin color， we prefer to use “fair”， for example:

English speakers cover one quarter of the globe，ranging from the faired-skinned people of the British Isles through every gradation of color and race the world over.

讲英语的人占了全球人口的四分之一，包括白皮肤的英伦岛的居民和全世界各种肤色和种族的人民。

In a whole word， the physical attribute of color words is almost similarity between the Chinese and English.

（作者单位：宝鸡职业技术学院外语系）