Etymology and Definitions
The word red comes from the Old English rēd. The word can be further traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root reudh-. In Sanskrit, the word rudhira means red or blood. In the Akkadian language of Ancient Mesopotamia and in the modern Inuit language of Eskimos, the word for red is the same word as "like blood".
The words for 'colored' in Latin (coloratus) and Spanish (colorado) both also mean 'red.'
In the Russian language, the word for red, Кра́сный (krasniy), comes from the same old Slavic root as the words for "beautiful"—красивый (krasiviy) and "excellent"—прекрасный (prekrasniy). Thus Red Square in Moscow, named long before the Russian Revolution, meant simply "Beautiful Square".
Read more about this topic: Red
Famous quotes containing the words etymology and/or definitions:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“Lord Byron is an exceedingly interesting person, and as such is it not to be regretted that he is a slave to the vilest and most vulgar prejudices, and as mad as the winds?
There have been many definitions of beauty in art. What is it? Beauty is what the untrained eyes consider abominable.”
—Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)