XXVI. Sermones M. Frontonis et Favorini philosophi de generibus colorum vocabulisque eorum Graecis et Latinis; atque inibi color "spadix" cuiusmodi sit. 1 Favorinus philosophus, cum ad M. Frontonem consularem pedibus aegrum visum iret, voluit me quoque ad eum secum ire. 2 Ac deinde, cum ibi aput Frontonem plerisque viris doctis praesentibus sermones de coloribus vocabulisque eorum agitarentur, quod multiplex colorum facies, appellationes autem incertae et exiguae forent,3 "plura" inquit "sunt" Favorinus "in sensibus oculorum quam in verbis vocibusque colorum discrimina. 4 Nam ut alias eorum inconcinnitates omittamus, simplices isti rufus et viridis colores singula quidem vocabula, multas autem species differentis habent. 5 Atque eam vocum inopiam in lingua magis Latina video, quam in Graeca. Quippe qui "rufus" color a rubore quidem appellatus est, sed cum aliter rubeat ignis, aliter sanguis, aliter ostrum, aliter crocum, aliter aurum, has singulas rufi varietates Latina oratio singulis propriisque vocabulis non demonstrat omniaque ista significat una "ruboris" appellatione, cum ex ipsis rebus vocabula colorum mutuatur et "igneum" aliquid dicit et "flammeum" et "sanguineum" et "croceum" et "ostrinum" et "aureum". 6 "Russus" enim color et "ruber" nihil a vocabulo "rufi" dinoscuntur neque proprietates eius omnes declarant, xanthos autem et erythros et pyrrhos et «irros et phoinix habere quasdam distantias coloris rufi videntur vel augentes eum vel remittentes vel mixta quadam specie temperantes."7 Tum Fronto ad Favorinum: "non infitias" inquit "imus, quin lingua Graeca, quam tu videre elegisse, prolixior fusiorque sit quam nostra; sed in his tamen coloribus, quibus modo dixisti, denominandis non proinde inopes sumus, ut tibi videmur. 8 Non enim haec sunt sola vocabula rufum colorem demonstrantia, quae tu modo dixisti, "russus" et "ruber", sed alia quoque habemus plura, quam quae dicta abs te Graeca sunt: "fulvus" enim et "flavus" et "rubidus" et "poeniceus" et "rutilus" et "luteus" et "spadix" appellationes sunt rufi coloris aut acuentes eum quasi incendentes aut cum colore viridi miscentes aut nigro infuscantes aut virenti sensim albo illuminantes. 9 Nam "poeniceus", quem tu Graece phoinika dixisti, et "rutilus" et "spadix" poenicei synonymos, qui factus e Graeco noster est, exuberantiam splendoremque significant ruboris, quales sunt fructus palmae arboris non admodum sole incocti, unde spadici et poeniceo nomen est:10 spadika enim Dorici vocant avulsum e palma termitem cum fructu. 11 "Fulvus" autem videtur de rufo atque viridi mixtus in aliis plus viridis, in aliis plus rufi liabere. Sic poeta verborum diligentissimus "fulvam aquilam" dicit et "iaspidem", "fulvos galeros" et "fulvum aurum" et "arenam fulvam" et "fulvum leonem", sic Q. Ennius in annalibus "aere fulvo" dixit. 12 "Flavus" contra videtur e viridi et rufo et albo concretus: sic "flaventes comae" et, quod mirari quosdam video, frondes olearum a Vergilio "flavae" dicuntur, sic multo ante Pacuvius aquam "flavam" dixit et "fulvum pulverem". 13 Cuius versus, quoniam sunt iucundissimi, libens commemini:
cedo tuum pedem mi, lymphis flavis fulvum ut
pulverem manibus isdem, quibus Vlixi saepe permulsi,
abluam lassitudinemque minuam manuum mollitudine. 14 "Rubidus" autem est rufus atrior et nigrore multo inustus, "luteus" contra rufus color est dilutior;15 inde ei nomen quoque esse factum videtur. 16 Non igitur," inquit "mi Favorine, species rufi coloris plures aput Graecos, quam aput nos nominantur. 17 Sed ne viridis quidem color pluribus a vobis vocabulis dicitur, 18 neque non potuit Vergilius colorem equi significare viridem volens caerulum magis dicere ecum quam "glaucum", sed maluit verbo uti notiore Graccho, quam inusitato Latino. 19 Nostris autem veteribus "caesia" dicta est, quae a Graecis glaukopis, ut Nigidius ait, "de colore caeli quasi caelia."" 20 Postquam haec Fronto dixit, tum Favorinus scientiam rerum uberem verborumque eius elegantiam exosculatus: "absque te" inquit "uno forsitan lingua profecto Graeca longe anteisset; sed tu, mi Fronto, quod in versu Homerico est, id facis: Kai ny ken e parelassas e ampheriston ethekas. 21 Sed cum omnia libens audivi, quae peritissime dixisti, tum maxime, quod varietatem flavi coloris enarrasti fecistique, ut intellegerem verba illa ex annali quarto decimo Ennii amoenissima, quae minime intellegebam: verrunt extemplo placidum mare: marmore flavo caeruleum spumat mare conferta rate pulsum; 22 non enim videbatur "caeruleum mare" cum "marmore flavo" convenire. 23 Sed cum sit, ita ut dixisti, flavus color e viridi et albo mixtus, pulcherrime prorsus spumas virentis maris "flavom marmor" appellavit."
Rough sight translation:Aulus Gellius, NA 2.26
Favorinus the philosopher, when he was walking to visit M. Fronto the consul, who was ailing, asked me to come along with him. And then, when a number of learned men at Fronto's house were talking about colors and the words for them -- because, as they said, the appearance of colors is many-faceted (multiplex), but the names for them are few and uncertain -- Favorinus said, "there are more distinctions in the perceptions of the eyes than there are in the words and expressions for colors. For (just to remove their improprieties [?]), the colors rufus and viridis have single names, but many different appearances. And here I see that well-known poverty of expressions in Latin when compared with Greek. For indeed that color "rufus" which is named from "rubor", but since fire (ignis) is red differently, and blood differently, and ostrum differently, and saffron differently, Latin speech does not show them with individual, specialized words, and signifies all those things by the one name "rubor", when it borrows the words for colors from the things themselves and says "igneus" and "flammeus" and "sangineus" and "croceus" and "ostrinus" and "aureus." Indeed, the color "russus" and "ruber" are not at all dinstinguished from the word "rufus", nor do they make clear how they are distinguished from it, but [the Greek words] xanthus and erythus and pyrrhus and irros and phoinix seem to have certain distinctions of color from rufus, either increasing or diminishing or compounding with a certain mixture."
Then Fronto said to Favorinus, "We do not deny, indeed, that the Greek language, which you seem to have studies, is wordier and more spread out than ours; but nevertheless, in these colors, which you just spoke about, we are not therefore lacking names, as we seem to you. For these are not the only words referring to a red [rufum] color, which you just now metioned -- russus and ruber -- but we also have more than those Greek ones you named: "fulvus" and "flavus" and "rubidus" and "poeniceus" and "rutilus" and "luteus" and "spadix" are names of the "rufus" color, either sharpening it, as if setting it afire (incendentes) or mixing it with the color green or darkening it with black or brightening it a bit with a greening (virenti -- glowing) white. For "poeniceus," which you said is "phoinika" in Greek, and "rutilus" and "spadix", synonyms with poeniceus (and our word is made from the Greek word), signify the exuberance and splendor of "rubor" such as are the fruits of the palm tree not wholly ripened by the sun, whence comes the words for spadix and poeniceus: for the Dorians call a "spadika" a bough taken from the palm along with its fruit. "Fulvus" however seems to be mixed from red and green, in some things with more green, in others with more red. Thus a poet very careful about words [i.e. Vergil] says "fulvam aquilam" and "iaspidem [jasper]", "fulvos galeros [fur cap]" "fulvum aurum" and "arenam fulvam" and "fulvum leonem," thus Quintus Ennis in his Annals said "aere fulvo". "Flavus," on the other hand, seems to be a mixture of viridis and rufus and albus: thus "flaventes comae" and, that which I see many wonder at, the branches of olives are said by Vergil to be "flavae", and thus much earlier Pacuvius called water "flava" and "fulvum pulverem". And since his verses are so pleasant, I'll quote them:
cedo tuum pedem mi, lymphis flavis fulvum ut
pulverem manibus isdem, quibus Ulixi saepe permulsi,
abulam lassitudinemque minuam manuum mollitudine.
"Rubidus" however is blacker [atrior] than rufus and burnt by much blackness [nigrore]; "luteus" on the other hand is a more dilute rufus-color, and its name seems to come from that [Gellius doesn't know that plant name from which luteus comes??]. Therefore," he said, "my good Favorinus, the Greeks do not name more species of red color [rufi coloris] than we do. But not even green color is expressed by us with many words, nor is Vergil not able to call the color of a horse green [viridem] wishing rather to say "caerulum ecum" rather than "glaucum", but he wished to use a word more known in Greek than an unusual one in Latin. And among our ancient writers, "caesia" is said, which is called "glaukopis" by the Greeks, ad Nigidius said, "de colore caeli quasi caelia.""
After Fronto said these things, then Favorinus kissed his rich knowledge of words and things, and also his elegance, and said, "from you alone perhaps the Greek language is far in advance [??] but you, my Fronto, do that which is in the verse of Homer, Kai ny ken e parelassas e ampheriston ethekas. But not only I have heard all these things with pleasure which you have said most expertly, but also, because you have explained the varietas of the flavi coloris, and you have made me understand those most pleasant words of Ennius, which I hardly used to understand: 'verrunt extemplo placidum mare: marmore flavo caeruleum spumat mare conferta rate pulsum'; for indeed 'caeruleum mare' didn's seem to comport with 'marmore flavo.' But since it is, as you say, that the flavus color is mixed of viridi and albo, he called greening spray of the sea [spumas virentis maris] the 'flavom marmor' most beautifully."
[Note that Gellius characterizes caeruleus as an unusual word in Latin -- thus not a BCT]
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