I happened to need to call in to an office in Glengormley yesterday which, given the delights of a particular junction which takes roughly three hours to get through, got me thinking about colour. As you do...
The name derives from Gleann Ghormlaithe, with gleann being a 'glen' (or narrow valley) and the latter part probably a genitive (possessive) form of a person by the name of Gormliath. It is possible, though contrary to some sources not certain, that this name in itself refers to two colours - gorm and liath - typically translated as 'blue' and 'grey'.
Of course, there is a problem there which became evident when I looked at the blue sky and then out over the 'glen' to the blue sea. In Irish, while the sky may indeed be regarded as 'gorm' (when it is not 'liath' - but it was definitely 'gorm' yesterday) the sea would be described in Irish as 'glas'. Indeed, nearby there is Inis Glas 'Green/Sea-Coloured Island' and another delightful place to have been yesterday would have been Ardglass (from 'Green/Sea-Coloured Height').
This is not particularly unusual. Modern Italian may also distinguish between cielo azzurro and mare blu (though the cielo 'sky' may also be described as blu, the mare would never be azzurro); the word blu is interesting because it is borrowed directly from French (hence the unusual combination, for Italian, of bl- at the start of a word) which itself was borrowed directly from Germanic (hence it is so similar to English). Hence in French you have the Cote d'Azur but the national team are les bleus; in Italian the sea may be described simply as il blu but the national team are gli azzurri (the shirt being a lighter blue than the French one).
'Liath' also gives us an interesting issue because although it must be said many of the buildings in Glengormley are indeed 'liath', travel a little out of the built-up area and you may see a grey horse. But this, in Irish, would not be capall liath but rather, again capall glas. Irish, in other words, sees a grey horse as the same colour as the blue sea.
"Blue" is fundamentally odd in itself because, aside from the light blue of the sky (which other languages may see as grey or green), it is comparatively rare in nature - blue rocks, for example, are found extremely rarely. Hence, it is comparatively rare in human language too. Any language, globally, with five colour words always distinguishes black, white, red, yellow and green - blue is never in the top five, despite being viewed (at least traditionally) as a "primary colour".
Who knew Glengormley had so much to answer for?
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