Points of hue

Red may usually indicate heat or anger, and blue may mean icy or cold.

- Adam Jacot de Boinod

But what of green, purple, orange? Through the modern era, those with the time to ponder such things have argued over whether there is such a thing as a universal language of colour.

By 1969, experts in the field such as the anthropologist Brent Berlin and linguist Paul Kay, working together, had studied isolated communities (such as the indigenous Mayan tribes of Mexico) extensively enough to feel confident in claiming that there was a strong distinction between the colour idioms of various languages.

Every language had worked out its own system, in ways that would appear totally arbitrary to other cultures, they said. They were right, of course.

What are the most intriguing ways in which such variations have affected how we view the different hues?