Altwestnordische Farbsemantik by Georg C. Brückmann (review)

This recent volume in the Münchner Nordistische Studien series is a study of basic color terms in Old Norse–Icelandic. In his Introduction, Georg C. Brückmann specifes the aim of the study: “[D]er Versuch, das Farbempfnden der Isländer und Norweger der Zeit nachzuvollziehen, [soll] in dieser Arbeit nicht unternom-men werden. Vielmehr soll eine Übersicht über die literarische Verwendung und Funktion einzelner Farblexeme in der awn. Literatur gegeben werden. Hierzu werden mit Hilfe der Etymologie und des literarischen Kontexts jeweils deskriptive und affektiv-assoziative Bedeutungsanteile, d. h. Denotation und Konnotation, herausgearbeitet” (p. 9). It is added that “[g]erade hinsichtlich der Konnotation ist zu erwarten, daß diese in einem hohen Grad vom Kontext abhängig ist” (p. 9). Brückmann bases his defnition of basic color terms on the criteria of Brent Berlin and Paul Kay in their landmark cross-cultural study Basic Color Terms (1969), that is, that the color term is known to all members of a community, not contextually restricted, not subsumed within another category, and generally named with a mono-lexemic word. This, then, leaves Old Norse–Icelandic with eight basic color terms: blár, brúnn, grár, grœnn, gulr, hvítr, rauðr, and svartr. The data for the usage of these color terms are drawn from the slips of the Arnamagnaean Commission’s Dictionary, which are now available online. Brückmann notes that in addition to the occurrences noted by the Dictionary, he has found more than one hundred more, which brings the number of occurrences of color terms to 956. Only prose texts have been examined. A chart on page 12 shows that of these 956 occurrences, hvítr (25%) is the most common basic color term; it is followed by rauðr (23%), svartr (21%), blár (10%), grœnn (7%), grár (6%), brúnn (4%), and gulr (4%). While these fgures are interesting, it should be emphasized that the excerpting of the Dictionary is selective, and that only a small selection of the oldest texts was excerpted as if for a concordance. An examination of basic color terms in the Sagas and Þættir of Icelanders alone shows a somewhat different picture: rauðr (28.9%), svartr (18.6%), blár (18.3%), hvítr (18%), grár (9.8%), brúnn (2.8%), grœnn (2.6%), and gulr (1%).

Chapter 2 treats the individual basic color terms in alphabetical order. First the etymology of the respective color adjective is given based on Frank Heidermanns’s Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive (1993). Next, Brückmann lists the occurrences using sigla, page, and line numbers; the sigla are those of the Arnamagnaean Commission’s Dictionary. He then classifes the various words about which the adjective is used. The color grœnn, for example, is used about plants or parts of plants (the referents are blað, epli, frukt, gras, graslaukr, laufblað, logr, pors, rós, rondr, tré); stones; textiles (referents include kápa, klæði, kyrtill, mottull); metal, armor, and other artifacts; and food items (the referents are fskr, feskr, kjot, smjor), though, as Brückmann notes, in this context the adjective does not indicate color but freshness. This is followed by a division of the occurrences into positive and negative connotations and a brief resumé of the fndings. With regard to grœnn, Brückmann argues that “[e]ine negative Konnotation von grǿnn läßt sich in den Belegen nicht ausmachen. Tendenzen von positiver Konnotation sind aber bei 13 (18,84%) Belegstellen auszumachen” (p. 39). The color gulr is used about animals (more specifcally the eyes of cats); stones; textiles; armor (more specif-cally shields); and people, monsters, and supernatural beings (more specifcally their hair, teeth, and eyes). Brückmann maintains that “[m]it eindeutig negativer Konnotation oder zur Beschreibung negativ konnotierter Designata wird gulr in acht Fällen (22,86% der Belege) verwendet” (p. 43). And the color brúnn is used about animals (the referents...