...As you may know Zulu tongues have 39 words for "green" while English has only one. (If we wish to modify the shade we have to bring in another word, e.g. bottle green, leaf green. I was interested in how the Zulus could build up 39 one word concepts for green and discussed this at lenght with a former Zulu Chief who had taken a doctorate in philology at Oxford. He began explaining why Zulus needed 39 words for green. In the days before automotive transport and national highways, the Zulu people would often make long trecks across their savannah grasslands. There were no signposts or maps and lengthy journeys had to be describe by those wo had travelled the route before. The language adapted itself to the requirements of speakers...
"But give me some examples of different green-words", I persisted.
My friend picked a leaf. "What colour is this?" he asked.
"Green", I replied.
The sun was shining. He waited until the cloud intervened. "What colour is the leaf now?" He asked.
"Green", I answered, already sensing my inadequancy.
"It isn't the same green, is it?"
"No, it isn't"
"We have a different word in Zulu" He dipped the leaf in water and held it out again. "Has the colour changed?"
"Yes."
"In Zulu se have a word for "green shining wet"
the sun came out again and I needed another word (leaf-green-wet-but-with-sunshine-on-it!)...