In Omaha-Ponca (Siouan):
Set I
ska' 'be white, clear (as perceived at a distance)'
s^a'be 'be black, dark (as perceived at a distance)'
Set II
sa~' 'be white'
sa'be 'be black'
z^i'be 'be red'
ttu' 'be blue, be green'
zi' 'be yellow'
xu'de 'be gray, light purplish, pinkish'
In translating English terms that are not distinct in traditional
terminology, various terms have been/are used by various groups at various
times. Common patterns would include a modifier typical of the precise
shade, e.g., ppe'z^ittu 'grass blue' for 'green', use of s^a'be 'dark',
e.g., ttu' s^a'be 'dark blue' for 'blue' (leaving ttu for 'green'). Other
common modifications include using the enclitic =xti 'truely, very',
quintessentially' with a color, or when a color term includes a fricative,
the fricative may undergo sound symbolic modification, e.g., z^i' 'pale
yellow'. And the enclitic conjunction/postposition =ega~ 'like' can be used
like English -ish, cf. z^i'be=ega~ 'pink'.
The term xu'de is classically considered to mean 'gray', but derivations are
stray glosses here and there suggest that it has the additional range. It is
apparently a fricative sound symbolic alternant of s^u'de `(be) smoke(y)'.
The glosses given are reconstructed. Within the period for which I have
data (1880 to today) the color system has always been glossed in terms of
English, without any awareness that color systems can differ from language
to language. (With the implicit notion that the English scheme is correct
and general.) So, for example, terms for green, blue, and purple, pink,
orange, etc., are always supplied, built up withe mechanisms described.
No technical, color tile-based investigation of OP colors has been made.
Older lists of OP color terms often include, in particular, a term that
means (literally) elk-colored. Application of color terms to horses and
human hair often involves special terms or special understandings of how to
apply the standard terms, at least for Dakotan, but I don't have any
relevant data for OP.
The pattern of two sets of color terms is general for Mississippi Valley
Siouan at least.
s^, z^ s-hacek, z-hacek; V' accented V; V~ nasal V; CC tense C
John E. Koontz
NIST:CAML:SCED 883.04 Boulder, CO
koontz@boulder.nist.gov