WotD: ivory

[muckefuck]

1. elfenbeinfarben
2. ivoorwit
3. de color marfil
4. de color vori
5. ivoire
6. ifori
7. ar dhath an eabhair
8. 상아색의 (象牙色의)
9. 象牙色 xiàngyásè

Comments

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

IIRC marfil is pretty much directly the Arabic for ivory/tusk. Are you buying paint or bathroom fittings?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

No, just reading about oliphaunts!

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

do you know anything about the history of the Yongle Emperor's giraffe, btw? I have a vague sense of its being confused with all sorts of other animals (including the unicorn (ki-rin?) and, again IIRC, rhinoceros), but beyond that I have no idea how it was received in China; if there's any comparison to be made with the reception of exotica in Europe over the next few hundred years.

[itchwoot.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't elfenbeinfarben be ivory-colored?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

In some contexts, possibly, but one generally says, "ivory paint", "ivory paper", "ivory skin", etc. without any need to specify that only the colour is intended. I don't believe the same is possible with elfenbein, but do correct me if I'm wrong.

[itchwoot.livejournal.com]

"Elfenbeinfarbene Farbe" sounds pretty stupid, but it's apparently in use, so you're probably right. Although Elfenbeinpapier exists... I don't know whether it's the same as ivory paper.

Nobody talks about ivory itself nowadays, eh?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Nur wenn es Erbstück ist!

[pne.livejournal.com]

Funny, just yesterday and today, my Bastian Sick page-a-day calendar had a feature about German colour words that don't inflect.

At least, in the standard language; "ein rosanes/lilanes/orangenes Kleid" is fine in my 'lect. (And a friend of mine has "lilales" in hers.)

But "elfenbeinenes" would sound a bit awkward to me, so I'd probably go with the standard "elfenbeinfarben".

Elfenbein

[mad-troll.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't something ivory-coloured be called elfenbeinfarbig?
Z.B. die elfenbeinfarbige Kette, das elfenbeinfarbiges Haus..?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Das Wort gibt es auch, doch taucht es nicht so häufig auf als elfeinbeinfarben.