Language and psychology

Abstract

During the age of Enlightenment, various compendia of knowledge were compiled, and this had an impact also on the description of languages and words. The vocabulary of colour formed part of this revolution in three ways: as part of the necessary lexicon to describe the arts and sciences, as an autonomous terminological corpus, and as units of language with grammatical substance. Lexicographers and authors, working in various languages, coined expressions and/or idioms based on the colours of nature or references to cultural contexts. Many of these have become widely accepted and established within their own languages.