Basic Color Terms in Khanty

Abstract

The Khanty language contains the minimum number of words ‒ color terms. For “black”, the word “pity” is used, presumably related to the single root “pătlam” “dark”, for “white” ‒ the word “nŏvi”, meaning also “light”, “moon”, for “red” ‒ the word “wŭrty” (from “wŭr” ‘blood’). One word “wŏsty” is used for the undifferentiated designation of shades of the yellow- green-blue spectrum. Currently, the differentiation of color terms is achieved by using phrases with the base word, which is a comparison standard (“blue as the sky”, “green as the grass”, etc.).