Is Blue New?

Human eyes can see approximately one million colors. However, there is evidence that humans did not know the color blue until modern times.   Evidence in literature, ancient languages, and art supports the idea that humans could not see blue.  A common introduction to this topic is the observation that the Homeric epics include many references to the “wine-dark sea” but not a single use of any word that translates to “blue.”  Even beyond just literature, ancient languages like ancient Icelandic, Hindu, Chinese, Arabic, and Hebrew had no word for blue in their vocabulary.  Ancient Egypt was the only ancient society to have a word for blue; in fact, they were the first society ever to have a record of a word for blue.  Ancient Egyptians were also the only culture that could create blue dyes.  This begs the question, can we see or distinguish a color we don’t have a name for?  

Well, one study in 2006 by Jules Davidoff tried to answer this question.  Davidoff and his team worked with an African tribe known as the Himba tribe from Namibia.  There was no word for blue in their language, but several different words for green. The initial tests were conducted using eleven tiles of one shade of green and one tile slightly lighter or darker. To western eyes, the difference would take a while to notice however, the Himbas were able to quickly pick out the different shades of green.  To test whether that meant they couldn't actually see blue, he showed members of the tribe a circle with 11 green squares and one obviously blue square.  However, they could not distinguish the difference between the green and the blue.  This all suggests that, until they had a word from it, it's likely that our ancestors didn't actually see blue.  Or, more accurately, they probably saw it as we do now, but they never really noticed it. Unless we’re color blind, we all “see” the same things when we look at the world because of the basic biology of human eyes and brains. This interplay between biology and psychology implies that perception isn't just a passive reception of visual information but is also an active process influenced by our prior experiences, cultural contexts, and even emotional states. 

In summary, while the basic biological mechanisms of color vision are the same for most people, the way these colors manifest in our conscious experience is influenced significantly by our expectations and previous encounters. This suggests that perception is as much about interpretation as it is about raw sensory input. But whether certain colors appear or if we just become conscious of them, it seems, has to do less with what we see than with what we’re already primed to expect. 

Bibliography

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Nelson, T. (2021, February 8). The First New Blue to Be Discovered in 200 Years Is Now

Available as a Paint. Architectural Digest. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-first-new-blue-to-be-discovered-in-200-years-is-now-available-as-a-paint

The History of the Color Blue: Ancient Egypt Uncovered a Color That Couldn’t Be Seen. (2021,

April 4). Color Meanings. https://www.color-meanings.com/history-color-blue/

Leo, C. W. (2023, September 22). Where did the color blue come from? Color with Leo. https://www.colorwithleo.com/where-did-the-color-blue-come-from/‌