Facultad de Humanidades y CC de la Comunicación

Purpureus and its chromatic universe. A methodological proposal for the study of colour terms in Latin texts · Purpureus is one of the most used colour adjectives in Latin literature due to the diversity of tones and nuances it encompasses. For this reason, it is difficult for the translator to determine the meaning of the adjective in a specific text. To solve this difficulty, we present a methodology based on the concept of colour in antiquity, from which a series of lexicographical requirements are derived (the study of the coloured entity, the intimate relationship between colour and state, the polysemic nature of colour terms) that are illuminated with the contributions of cognitive linguistics. From its application it appears that purpureus denotes one artificial and one natural colour. In the former case, purpureus applies to the cognitive domain of tissues and denotes both colour and type of tissue. Given the complex dyeing process, it is impossible to determine the hue of purpureus in a text, unless other colour adjectives appear to nuance it. On the other hand, when purpureus denotes a natural colour, it expresses colour and, in many cases, state. This is what happens when it is embodied in the domain of the human body, plants, elements of the firmament and waters where the colour also reflects health, modesty, freshness, turbulence. In the cognitive domain of gemstones, colour determines essence. Finally, when purpureus is embodied in objects characterized by whiteness like snow, it denotes the intensity and luminosity of colour.

The adjective χλωρός appears in the Septuagint to translate Hebrew terms that not only denote color, but state as well. In fact, in biblical Hebrew color is not a quality, but rather a “state” of the entities it describes. It is logical to wonder, then, whether it also expresses this in the Septuagint or if it denotes only color. To answer this question, it is necessary to carry out an interdisciplinary study of color and color language. The methodology followed will first study the concept of color in the Hellenistic world and in the Septuagint, as well as the cultural context in which the Septuagint translators lived. Subsequently, an approximate account of the “encyclopedic knowledge” that those translators possessed will be given, followed, finally, by a semantic analysis of χλωρός in the Septuagint. After applying this methodology, it will be shown that in the Septuagint, as in the Hellenistic world in general, natural color expresses both color and state, with color being the visual reflection of that state.

Although in the Hebrew Bible a specific term does not appear to refer to ‘colour’, unlike what happens in its Greek and Latin versions, colour terms are used in the di!erent books that it is composed of to denote the various chromatic spectrum that nature shows. In the Semitic world colour is what is perceived on the objects and human beings through sight due to the presence of light. For this reason, the study of colour in the Bible is intrinsically joined to the study of the entity imbued by colour. In the most of the cases the modern reader can identify the tonality expressed by colour terms precisely through the entity mentioned. Indeed, sometimes, the objects of nature themselves are used to denote colour as occurs with precious stones, metals or cloths. In the Book of Consolation the prophet Jeremiah uses the nominal lexeme yeraqôn to describe the faces of the soldiers terrified before the attack of the enemy (Jer 30.6). It is a peculiar use because yeraqôn appears 5 times in the Hebrew Bible joined to šidapôn, ‘blight’, with the meaning of ‘mildew’ (Deut 28.22; 1 Kings 8.37; Jer 30.6; Amos 4.9; Hag. 2.17; 2 Chr. 6.28). In fact, the main dictionaries and studies about colour propose that yeraqôn has two di!erent meanings: achromatic that is the most frequent (mildew) and the other one chromatic (paleness). Nevertheless, neither Greek neither Latin version, having colour terms that could be equivalents, use them and instead they resort to a term expressing a skin disease characterized by the fact that the person acquires a yellow hue as happens with mold: 􀗔􀕿􀖇􀕺􀖄􀖃􀖅 ‘jaundice’ and aurugo ‘jaundice’. Thus, it is logical asking if yeraqôn denotes e!ectiveness ‘paleness’. As it is mentioned, Jeremiah utilizes yeraqôn to describe the soldiers’ faces (Jer 30.6). As today, in Israel, the face reflects the emotions that the human being experiences, through gestures or a colour change on the face, as it can naturally turn red or pale. As it is known, one of the fear e!ects is the unexpected paleness. So it stands to set out that yeraqôn does indeed mean paleness. However, how can we explain the origin of this new meaning? Jer 30.6 appears in the context of divine punishment as occurs when it has the meaning of mildew. The mildew, attacking the plants, discolours them and they acquired a hue of low saturation between green and yellow. It seems that Jeremiah pays attention in the colour of the plants and, through a cognitive metonymy of kind ENTITY and SALIENT PROPERTY, uses yeraqôn to express only the colour acquired by a person, not ill as the plants, but terrified by fear. This explains that yeraqôn does not denote a plant illness, but the colour of fear.

The meaning of χλωρός in Rev 6.8 has been given a variety of interpretations (green, yellow, pale, vigorous…) due to its polysemic character; that is, it possesses a chromatic as well as achromatic meaning and, in addition, if it denotes colour, can express a wide spectrum of hues. From this arises the need for a methodology that does not merely offer a translation, but rather a ‘meaning’. This methodology is based on: an analysis of the text; the use of the term; the concept of colour that existed in antiquity and the entity in which the colour was embodied; and the use of various lexicographical tools provided by the field of cognitive linguistics.

Das 21. Jahrhundert erlebt eine 'visuelle Kultur.' Diese ist in den 90er Jabren des 20. Jahrhunderts im akademischen Milieu entstanden. Das Bild hat sich zum vorherrschenden Medium der Übermittlung von Sachwissen, von Ge­fühlen und Emotionen entwickelt. Zwei Elemente sind es, die diese Entwicklung begünstigt haben: die Tendenz, jede Erfahrung zu visualisieren, sowie die im­mense Rolle, die die Farbe in diesem Prozess spielt. Bemerkenswerterweise sind genau dies auch die literarischen Merkmale, die die neutestamentliche Apoka­lypse des Johannes charakterisieren. Dies zeigt sich an der Verwendung des homodiegetischen Erzahlens und der selektiven Verwendung von 􀀓Mnw und ópáw, dem haufigen Gebrauch von Beschreibungsformen, die den Lesenden die Visualisierung der Visionen des Johannes erleichtem (hauptsachlich die mit 1

Joel’s oracle proclaiming the day of the Lord concludes with the announcement of a series of wonders. The event that the prophet announces is not devoid of chromatism, since the language of color emerges in the prophecy through elements of nature that connote color (blood, fire, smoke [Joel 3:3–4; Eng. 2:30– 31]). It is logical, then, to ask if חשך means “darkness” or, on the contrary, “color.” In order to determine if חשך has a chromatic meaning, I will apply a specific methodology based on cognitive linguistics. First, I will discuss the “encyclopedic knowledge” of the native speaker, describing the meaning of the color terms proposed in the main dictionaries and undertaking a comparative study of how the terms have been translated in the early versions of the Bible. I will then study the occurrences of the color terms in context and analyze the entity that describes the color term—the sun. In the light of this semantic analysis, I conclude that חשך expresses color in Joel 3:4, and this fact has great relevance for the interpretation of the prophecy.

The Book of Revelation, although it carries the same symbolism for blood that we find elsewhere in the Bible, examines this more deeply, recasting it with fresh nuances and giving it a unique stamp in continuity with the message of Jesus contained in the New Testament. In this way, colour and meaning become fused together, with blood referring to symbol and colour to theology. It can therefore be affirmed that the Book of Revelation is not only a chromatic story, but a chromatic revelation in which blood plays a vital role.