BLUE

The term 'blue' may refer to any of a number of similar colours. The sensation of blue is made by light having a spectrum dominated by energy in the wavelength range of about 440–490 nm.
Blue is considered to be one of the three primary additive colours in the RGB system; blue light has the shortest wavelength range of the three additive primary colours. The English language commonly uses "blue" to refer to any colour from navy blue to cyan.
The complementary colour of blue in colour science is yellow (on the HSV colour wheel), while in art the complementary colour to blue is considered to be orange (based on the Munsell colour wheel).

Contents

Blue in the RGB system

Etymology of blue in English

Blue and green in other languages

Pigments

Scientific natural standards for blue

Blue in human culture

Mysticism

See also

External links

References

Blue in the RGB system

In the RGB colour system, colours are formed by mixing a red, a green and a blue colour. When talking about RGB, therefore, some people use blue to mean that specific blue, which varies in shade according to the device used to display the RGB colour. Absolute colour spaces based on RGB, such as sRGB, define an exact colour for this blue, which may differ from the actual blue used in a particular computer monitor.

Etymology of blue in English

Main articles: Colour name

The modern English word ''blue'' (German:blau) comes from the Middle English, ''bleu'' or ''blwe'', which came from an Old French word ''bleu'' of Germanic origin (Frankish or possibly Old High German ''blao'', "shining"). ''Bleu'' replaced Old English ''blaw''. The root of these variations was the Proto-Germanic ''blæwaz'', which was also the root of the Old Norse world ''bla'' and the modern Icelandic ''blár'', and the Scandinavian word ''blå''. It can also be green or orange occasionally(blue). A Scots and Scottish English word for "blue-grey" is ''blae'', from the Middle English ''bla'' ("dark blue," from the Old English ''blæd''). Ancient Greek lacked the word for colour blue and Homer called the colour of the sea 'Wine Coloured', except that the word ''kyanos'' was used for dark blue enamel.
As a curiosity, ''blue'' is thought to be cognate with ''blond'' and ''black'' through the Germanic word. Through a Proto-Indoeuropean root, it is also linked with Latin ''flavus'' ("yellow"; see ''flavescent'' and ''flavine''), with Greek phalos (white), French blanc (white) (loaned from Old Frankish), and with Russian белый, ''belyi'' ("white," see ''beluga''), and Welsh blawr (grey) all of which derive (according to the ''American Heritage Dictionary'') from the Proto-Indo-European root
★ ''bhel-'' meaning "to shine, flash or burn", (more specifically the word bhle-was, which meant light coloured, blue, blond, or yellow), from whence came the names of various bright colours, and that of colour black from a derivation meaning "burnt" (other words derived from the root bhel- include ''bleach'', ''bleak'', ''blind'', ''blink'', ''blank'', ''blush'', ''blaze'', ''flame'', ''fulminate'', ''flagrant'' and ''phlegm'').
In the English language, blue may also refer to the feeling of sadness. "He was feeling blue".
This is because blue was related to rain, or storms, and in Greek mythology, the god Zeus would make rain when he was sad (crying), and a storm when he was angry. ''Kyanos'' was a name used in Ancient Greek to refer to ''dark blue tile'' (In English it means blue-green).^[2]

Blue and green in other languages

Main articles: Distinguishing blue from green in language

Many languages do not have separate terms for blue and or green, instead using a cover term for both (when the issue is discussed in linguistics, this cover term is sometimes called ''grue'' in English).

Pigments

Traditionally, blue has been considered a primary colour in painting, with the secondary colour orange as its complement.
Blue pigments include azurite, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, and Prussian blue (milori blue), and miller blue.

Scientific natural standards for blue

★ Emission spectrum of Cu²⁺

★ Electronic spectrum of aqua-ions Cu(H₂O)₅²⁺

Blue in human culture

===Animals===

★ When an animal's coat is described as "blue", it refers to a shade of grey that takes on a bluish tint, a diluted variant of a pure black coat. This designation is used for a variety of animals, including dog coats, some rat coats, cat coats, some chicken breeds, and some horse coat colours.
===Comedy===

★ A comedian who is "working blue" is dealing with off colour or adult-themed humor.
===Medicine===

★ A Code Blue is declared in emergency medical situations to indicate imminent loss of life when a patient has lost heartbeat and ceased respiration.
===Music===

★ The blues is a style of music originated by African Americans.
===National colours===

★ Blue and yellow are the national colours of Sweden, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, and along with green, of Brazil, and along with red, of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chad, Romania, and Moldova.

★ Blue and white are the national colours of Somalia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Scotland, San Marino, and Honduras.

★ Red and blue are the national colours of Liechtenstein and Haiti, and along with white, of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Norway, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Serbia, Croatia, Paraguay, Iceland, Panama, Russia, Cuba, Chile, Thailand, Dominican Republic, Liberia, and Nepal.

Mysticism

★ In the metaphysics of the ''New Age Prophetess'', Alice A. Bailey, in her system called the Seven Rays which classifies humans into seven different metaphysical personality types, the ''first ray'' of ''will-power'' is represented by the color ''blue''. People who have this metaphysical personality type are said to be ''on the Blue Ray''.

★ The color blue or azure is used to symbolically represent the fifth (Vishuddha) chakra.

★ Psychics who claim to be able to observe the aura with their third eye report that someone with a blue aura is a person who is oriented toward spirituality. ^[3] People with blue auras are said to be in interested in social service work and to be in occupations such as social worker, counselor, teacher, writer, and psychologist.^[4]
===Politics===
Main articles: Political colour


★ Blue, like white, may represent authority, as opposed to revolutionary red or anarchist black. Internationally, blue is the symbol for conservatism and conservative political parties. In the United States, however, it has become fashionable in recent years to refer to the Democratic Party as "blue" and the Republican Party as "red", particularly as in reference to "red states and blue states."

★ Azure (''azzuro''), a light blue, is the national colour of Italy (from the livery colour of the former reigning family, the House of Savoy). Blue (along with white) is the national colour of Greece and Israel and the colour is seen on the Israeli and Greek flags. An early Zionist poem explains that the colour white on the Israeli flag symbolizes great faith; blue the appearance of the firmament.^[5]

★ For reasons that are not entirely clear, the colour has traditionally been taken to represent the ancient Turkic race.
===Recording media===

★ A Blu-ray Disc is a high-density optical disc formatted for the storage of digital media, including high-definition video.
===Religion===

★ Blue plays a symbolic role in a number of world religions. Because blue is the colour of the sky and sea, it has often symbolized divinity, as well as height and depth. It can also represent equilibrium, since its hue suggests a shade midway between white and black, day and night. To the ancient Egyptians, blue was the colour of truth.

★ Blue in Christianity: The inside of the open dome in Eastern Christian Churches is painted blue to give the impression of looking up into the heavens. Blue is also the colour Mary wears in iconography. During the European Renaissance, artists began painting Hell and specifically the Devil blue to convey the coldness of being distant from God. This is possibly inspired by Dante's Hell in the Divine Comedy, in which Satan is depicted as living in eternal ice at the centre of Earth. Blue also represents the deadly sin of Lust.

★ Blue in Hinduism: In the Hindu faith, persons of a transcendental, or divine nature are displayed as being blue in colour to indicate their dark complexion. The deity Krishna is probably the most famous of this type of depiction within Hindu art. Lord Shiva's neck has blue colour to show that the poison he took to save the world from destruction is still staying in his throat.

★ Blue in Judaism: In the Torah, the Israelites were commanded to put fringes, ''tzitzit'', on the corners of their garments, and to weave within these fringes a “twisted thread of blue (''tekhelet'').”^[6] In ancient days, this blue thread was made from a dye extracted from a Mediterranean snail called the ''hilazon''. Maimonides claimed that this blue was the colour of “the clear noonday sky”; Rashi, the colour of the evening sky.^[7] According to several rabbinic sages, blue is the colour of God’s Glory.^[8] Staring at this colour aids in mediation, bringing us a glimpse of the “pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity,” which is a likeness of the Throne of God.^[9] (The Hebrew word for glory, ''kavod'', means “blue” in Arabic.) Many items in the ''Mishkan'', the portable sanctuary in the wilderness, such as the ''menorah'', many of the vessels, and the Ark of the Covenant, were covered with blue cloth when transported from place to place.^[10]
===Sociology===

★ Blue may denote the working class, derived from the traditional colour of factory uniforms. Blue-collar workers are industrial workers and are often contrasted with white-collar office workers. However, in contrast to "blue collar," the phrase "blue blood" is used to mean "from an aristocratic background," because pale, untanned skin–historically, a sign of nobility–allows blue-tinged veins to show through.

★ Several vocations are associated with blue. Law enforcement, and uniformed police, often wear blue uniforms and have become associated with the colour, as seen in phrases such as "boys in blue," "thin blue line," "blue meanie", "blue wall" and NYPD Blue.
===Symbolism===


★ Blue often denotes injury, such as in the phrase "'black and blue'," since it is the colour of a bruise. Blue is also used as a word to denote a sad or melancholy state, as in depression, or simply a state of deep contemplation (however, the phrase "blue skies," referring to sunny weather, implies cheerfulness). Symbolically, blue is associated with that state, such as the term 'blue period' to describe Pablo Picasso's work from 1901 to 1904.

★ Blue is associated with water; on coloured maps, oceans, lakes, and streams usually appear blue.

★ Light blue is often associated with the cold. When with white, blue is associated with ice and snow; and by extension, winter.

★ Blue can be associated with France, Quebec and the French Language. The term Les Bleus is often used in a sporting context. In all but motor sports, the Italian colour is light blue, and Italian athletes are called ''Azzurri''.

★ Gradients of Blue and other smooth, relaxing visual techniques incorporating Blue are considered calming and soothing.

★ Blue is often a colour used to symbolize honesty and trustworthiness. Connected to this, blue traditionally is associated with the Christian virtue faith. Hence, it may also mean naivité, being "blue-eyed". In Scandinavia this expression is used for people who are easily tricked or cheated, and in Japanese the word "aoi," meaning "blue," also indicates innocence and inexperience. The German word for blue is used for "drunk" eg. "Ich bin blau" - "I'm drunk".

★ Blue is associated with the eastern direction in traditional East Asian cosmology.

★ In Thailand, Blue is associated with Friday on the Thai solar calendar. Anyone may wear blue on Fridays and anyone born on a Friday may adopt blue as their colour. The Thai language, however, is one that has had trouble distinguishing blue from green. The default word for Blue was recently สีน้ำเงิน literally, the colour of silver, a poetical reference to the silvery sheen of the deep blue sea. It now means Navy Blue, and the default word is now สีฟ้า literally, the colour of the sky. [1]

See also

★ Blue flag

★ Blue movie

★ Distinguishing "blue" from "green" in language

★ Engineer's blue

★ Lapis lazuli, a blue stone

★ List of colours

★ , a movie

External links

★ All About the Colour Blue

References

1. W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords
2. ''Merriam-Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary'' Springfield, Mass.:1984--Merriam-Webster Page 319
3. Swami Panchadasi ''The Human Aura: Astral Colors and Thought Forms'' Des Plaines, Illinois, USA:1912--Yogi Publications Society Page 36
4. Oslie, Pamalie ''Life Colors: What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal'' Novato, California:2000--New World Library Blue Auras: Pages 117-130
5. ''"Zivei Eretz Yehudah"'' (1860), Ludwig August von Frankl.
6. Numbers 15:38.
7. ''Mishneh Torah'', ''Tzitzit'' 2:1; Commentary on Numbers 15:38.
8. ''Numbers Rabbah'' 14:3; ''Hullin'' 89a.
9. Exodus 24:10; Ezekiel 1:26; ''Hullin'' 89a.
10. Numbers 4:6-12.