Yellow is the color
of gold, butter, and ripe lemons. In the spectrum of visible light, and in the
traditional color wheel used by painters, yellow is found between green and
orange. It is a primary color in subtractive color.
Yellow is
commonly associated with gold, wealth, sunshine, reason, happiness, optimism
and pleasure, but also with envy, jealousy and betrayal. It plays an important
role in Asian culture, particularly in China.
Etymology and
definitions
The word
"yellow" comes from the Old English geolu, geolwe, meaning
"yellow, yellowish", derived from the Proto-Germanic word gelwaz
"yellow". It has the same Indo-European base, gʰel-, as the word
yell; gʰel- means both bright and gleaming, and to cry out. Yellow is a color which
cries out for attention.
The English term
is related to other Germanic words for yellow, namely Scots (Scottish people)
yella, East Frisian jeel, West Frisian giel, Dutch geel, German gelb, and
Swedish gul. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest known use
of this word in English is from The Epinal Glossary in the year 700.
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