@DuMussDieUhrDruecken said in #10:
> colors being there, existing, doesn't depend on being perceived by whom- or whatever. it's wavelengths of light, electromagnetic radiation.
> it didn't wait to come into existence until vision appeared.
I think most people would define "color" as how our (or other animals') brains perceive electromagnetic radiation, not simply the radiation itself. After all, most people would not say radio waves or x-rays or gamma rays are colors, or even ultraviolet and infrared despite them having the names of colors in their names.
I'm pretty sure light took on all available frequencies long before fruit was a thing. Let there be light!
So, we perceived the color orange early on.
One day, we became aware of the sweet fruit. We asked ourselves, "what color is this amazing fruit?" The rest is history.
I'm just glad we didn't choose to call grapes "purples" or even "violets."
If we had called them the later, we'd have used up a great name now more usefully applied to some of the very best flowers.
@Noflaps, the word originally referred to the fruit and only took on the meaning of the color later on.
www.etymonline.com/word/orange Long, long ago, even before hobbits walked the Earth, our distant ancestors stumbled upon an orange tree. Somewhere in southern California, but long before California became so very popular.
One ancestor pointed at the tree with glee and amazement and vocalized: Orange!
She was using the ancient word for "tiny" because she thought she'd found a pumpkin tree!
I think orange came first lol
@Asdago #11 - that makes it then
" Which orange came first: our perception of the color or the fruit? "
@DuMussDieUhrDruecken said in #16:
>
@Asdago #11 - that makes it then
> " Which orange came first: our perception of the color or the fruit? "
Yes, but not necessarily *our* perception of the color, since other animals were able to see color before humans existed.
The first recorded use of “orange” as a color word occurred after sweet oranges became well-known, in 1512.
Now idk in which perspective your looking at so dont start a war yall ..
Orange the fruit came first. The word came into English either from Old French 'pomme d'orenge', or from the Spanish 'naranja' (with the subsequent transfer of the 'n' over to the indefinite article, as per 'apron' and 'adder', originally 'napron' and 'nadder').
The origins of most of our contemporary English color words can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) family of languages, which originated approximately 6,000 years ago.
The earliest recorded use of the word orange in English is from the 13th century and referred to the fruit. The first recorded use of "orange" as a colour name in English was in 1502, in a description of clothing purchased for Margaret Tudor.
