Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 524
Dghweɗe shades of colours
The list of shades of colours presented below is the result of my using a set of colour pencils
and marking different colours on a piece of paper, then asking what colour it was. After a
short discussion my friends gave me the names. As far as I understood, my friends used the
word tsarnana, meaning 'mixture', in their colour terminology. If we consult the list below
and start looking at the different shades of brown, we recognise that the darkest shade of
brown falls under the colour classification of lusa, and that dark blue and black are also
classified under lusa. This seems to indicate that lusa was not a reference to a colour but to a
very dark shade of mainly blue and brown. If we consult the other shades of brown on the list,
we see that they fall under two different colour names, of which two darker shades (but not as
dark as lusa brown) were called humbat-humate and yuw-r'ith-r'ithe, and we see that the latter
refers to the lightest version of brown.
If we examine the shades of red, we see that the lightest version of red, which is almost
brown, is referred to as tva-kul-kule, while the slightly darker red/brown is called ras-rasa.
Both shades of this lighter red/brown are described by referring to things from the Dghweɗe
cultural environment, such as the colour similar to a funeral dress for the darker shade of red,
and the colour spots of a cow for the lighter shade. If we go further down the list to the
example of pink, we see that the description is even more specific, and we wonder whether
they are colour classifications or descriptions based on the experience of our Dghweɗe friends
having to classify a colour in a particular moment or circumstance.
If we look at the shades of green we see a similar descriptive pattern, such as in the case of
gavzere-gavzere, meaning baby poo, for the lightest shade of green. If we compare shades of
baby poo on the internet, we find that this kind of light green with a hint of yellow is typical
for poo from breastfed babies, which was presumably the most common baby poo colour
experience in Dghweɗe of the past. The other shades of green are lal-lɓatsu or ɓal-ɓale and
are described as looking like grass, while the darkest shade of green in the collection is rara’a and compared to the colour of water plants. Perhaps we need to imagine that any plant
would look darker if covered with water.
List of shades of colours in Dghweɗe:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
humbat-humate
yuw-r’ith-r’ithe
ras-rasa
tatus-tatuse
tva-kul-kule
yuw-the-the
lusa
ra-ra’a
lal-lɓatsu or ɓal-ɓale
gavzer-gavzere
kwith-kwithe
kwith-kwithe-lusa
the-the-matavlang-matavlanga
tavzal-tavzale
lusa-hupishe
= brown (no lit. meaning)
= light brown
= red (red dress used for funeral)
= purple (no lit. meaning)
= red (also colour spots of cow)
= yellow (like watery egg yolk)
= black, dark
= green (like water plant)
= green (like grass)
= green (like baby poo)
= blue (no lit. meaning)
= black (maybe dark blue)
= yellow (insect: kwari in Hausa)
= pink (first pus then blood)
= lusa (white and black mixture on goat)
We also have different shades of blue, and we already mentioned the darkest shade of blue
which was referred to as lusa, but there is still another very dark blue called kwith-kwith-lusa,
while the three lighter shades of blue are called only kwith-kwith. There is also a very light
grey at the bottom of the list which is called lusa hupishe, referring to the contrast of light and
dark shades of grey typical for goats. Finally we want to look at the two versions of yellow in
the list. One is referred to as yuw-the-the, meaning watery egg yolk, while the other is called
the-the-matavlang-matavlanga which is a reference to the colour of a particular insect. We
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