Originally Posted By: BranShea
where the simple, the basic ones come from ( black, white, brown, red, * green, yellow and blue, that would be quite a LIU-task.


Most of these are pretty well understood. White comes from the PIE root kweit-, meaning 'white' or 'to shine'. Brown from PIE bher-, 'bright, brown'. Red from PIE reudh-, 'red, ruddy'. Green from PIE ghre-, 'to grow, become green'. Yellow from PIE ghel-, 'to shine'; its yellow sense probably coming from its meaning 'gold'. Blue and black, interestingly, come from PIE bhel-, 'white'.