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Ἵππος χλωρός (Rev 6.8): A Methodology for the Study of Colour Terms in the New Testament

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2021

Lourdes Garcia Ureña Open the ORCID record for Lourdes Garcia Ureña [Opens in a new window]
Lourdes Garcia Ureña*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Humanidades, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Comunicación, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, Avda. Juan XXIII, 3, Madrid 28040, Spain. Email: lgarciau@ceu.es
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Abstract

The meaning of χλωρός in Rev 6.8 has been given a variety of interpretations (green, yellow, pale, vigorous etc.) due to its polysemic character; that is, it possesses a chromatic as well as an achromatic meaning and, in addition, if it denotes colour, can express a wide spectrum of hues. From this arises the need for a methodology that offers not merely a gloss, but rather a ‘meaning’. This methodology is based on: an analysis of the text; the use of the term; the concept of colour that existed in antiquity and the entity in which the colour was embodied; and the use of various lexicographical tools provided by the field of cognitive linguistics.

Keywords

book of Revelationcolour termsmeaningdefinitionmethodologyencyclopaedic knowledgecognitive linguistics

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Articles
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New Testament Studies , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 205 - 219
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

1. Introduction

The book of Revelation is today still an enigmatic book, with unresolved questions that call for further research and discussion among exegetes. One of these open questions concerns semantics: what colour is the horse of the fourth horseman that appears in the vision of the opening of the fourth seal (Rev 6.8)? The author of the book of Revelation, John of Patmos, describes it with the adjectival lexeme χλωρός, a term which since antiquity has elicited a variety of interpretations. Thus, in Tertullian's De pudicitia 2.1022c, χλωρός is translated as viridis,Footnote 1 while the Vetus LatinaFootnote 2 and the Vulgate opt for pallidus.

This lack of unanimity on the interpretation of χλωρός still exists in modern versions of the Bible. Some incline to the green tonality that we find in De pudicitia, with nuances chosen to express a lesser luminosity or saturation of the green proper to plants: ‘pale green’ (NRSV), ‘verdâtre’ (BJ; NEG79; SG21) or ‘verdastro’ (CEI). Others see χλωρός as reflecting the yellowish hue characteristic of plants that are dying, and so have chosen ‘gialastro’ (NR2006) or ‘amarillento’ (CEE).Footnote 3 Still other versions, such as the Vetus and the Vulgate, emphasise the loss of colour by using ‘pale’ (ASV; NKJV) or ‘macilento’Footnote 4 (Navarra Bible).

This diversity of interpretations is in fact maintained among exegetes, with some authors proposing the colour green,Footnote 5 and others inclining to ‘pale-coloured’Footnote 6 or ‘pale yellow’.Footnote 7 There are even some who do not recognise χλωρός as having a chromatic connotation at all and, in light of Zech 6.2–6, propose one of its metaphorical meanings (‘vigorous’, ‘ardent’).Footnote 8

The reason for this is none other than the rich polysemy of χλωρός, especially with regard to colour, as it is ‘an adjective of color somewhat indeterminate in sense, but generally as part of the spectrum lying between blue and yellow, with shade more closely defined through context’.Footnote 9 Indeed, this indeterminacy features in almost all of the dictionaries, which propose a wide chromatic spectrum of meanings: (a) ‘yellow’ when applied to honey (Homer, Il. 9.631, Od. 10.234), sand (Sophocles, Aj. 1064) or egg yolk (Zopyrus, ap. Oribasius Medicus 14.61.1); (b) ‘yellowish green’ or ‘pale green’ when describing certain plants (σίτου ἔτι χλωροῦ ὄντος, ‘the grain still being green’, Thucydides 4.6.1) or when referring to one of the colours of the rainbow (Xenaphones, fr. 28d); (c) the ‘green’ of grass and plants (χλωραὶ ῥῶπες, Homer, Od. 16.47; σῦκα, ‘green figs’, Euripides, fr. 907), although this is also applied to water (Anthologia Graeca ix.669.3 (Mariannus)); and (d) ‘greenish yellow’, ‘pale’ or ‘greenish grey’, when applied to the skin colour of someone who is afraid (χλωρὸς ὑπαὶ δείους, ‘pale with fear’, Homer, Il. 10.376, 15.4) or suffering from a serious illness (Hippocrates M., Prog. 2; Thucydides 2.49.5; Maximus Tyrius Sophista 20.5b).Footnote 10 Along with this chromatic spectrum, χλωρός also possesses meanings that do not denote colour, such as ‘fresh’ or ‘young’, used to describe lexemes connected with the quality of moistness: tears, cheese, fishFootnote 11 or even the symptoms of love, as in the poetry of Sappho (Sappho 2.14).Footnote 12

Therefore, in order to arrive at a definite meaning of χλωρός in Rev 6.8, it is necessary to resolve the term's polysemy.

2. Methodology

Once the different meanings of a given lexeme are identified, the next step in resolving its polysemy is to analyse the contexts in which it appears.Footnote 13 The adjectival lexeme χλωρός belongs to the section referred to as ‘the opening of the seven seals’. The appearance of ἵππος χλωρός when the fourth seal is opened is preceded by descriptions of the other three horses, not through characteristics such as their speed, strength or youth, but by their colour; thus appear the three colour lexemes: λευκός, ‘white’ (Rev 6.2), πυρρός, ‘sorrel’ (Rev 6.4) and μέλας, ‘black’ (Rev 6.5). These allow the horses to be identified at a glanceFootnote 14 and prevent any sort of confusion between them. Curiously, this chromatic context does not disappear after the vision of the horses. And so, as the fifth seal is opened, the colour white is used to describe the robes of the immolated souls (Rev 6.11), while black and the colour of blood are used to show the aspect of the sun and the moon after the earthquake that occurs with the opening of the sixth seal (Rev 6.12). Indeed, the narrator makes use of colour language throughout the entire episode, whether this is through direct designations (colour adjectives) or indirect ones (terms that denote colour, such as blood). This is a way of giving realism and dramaticism to the vision in such a way that the community listening to the narrative can to some extent ‘see’ the vision while they listen to it recited aloud. Given the chromatic context that precedes and follows the appearance of the fourth horse, it can be concluded that χλωρός in Rev 6.8 possesses, like the other colour adjectives that appear, a chromatic meaning that describes the colour of the horse and not its youth or vigour, as has been proposed.Footnote 15

In addition, the context provides valuable information for determining the colour of the fourth horse: the colours of the first three horses described in John's vision are characteristic of real horses, which may indeed be white, black or sorrel.Footnote 16 Taken in this sense, χλωρός should be a skin colour that exists in reality, at the same time as it acquires a symbolic meaning, as in the case of the other horses and considering the general use of colour language in the book of Revelation.Footnote 17 Finally, in contrast to the first three seals, the seer identifies the horse's rider: Death (καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ όνομα αὐτῷ [ὁ] θάνατος, καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἠκολούθει μετ̓ αὐτοῦ, ‘and he who is mounted on it is called Death, and Hades followed him’, Rev 6.8b). A close link between the horse and its rider thus emerges; in light of this, a meaning of ‘vigorous’ would seem incongruous with such a grim personage.

While the context has allowed us to determine that Rev 6.8 has a chromatic rather than achromatic meaning, it does not provide us with enough information to identify the hue expressed in Rev 6.8 from its possible denotations. Recent cognitive linguistic studies have insisted that in order to establish the meaning of words it is necessary to acquire the encyclopaedic knowledge of the native speaker; that is to say, ‘the overall knowledge that typical members of the speech community have’.Footnote 18 When we study ancient texts, such native speakers are not available to us, but we do have a number of tools that can help us to approximate this:

  1. (1) The information provided by specialised dictionaries shows us the use of a given lexeme in Greek literature prior and contemporary to the apocalyptic text. This point has already been presented in section 1; it should also be mentioned, however, that this is not the first time in Greek literature that χλωρός is embodied in a sinister figure. In The Shield of Heracles, falsely attributed to Hesiod,Footnote 19 we find that χλωρός describes Ἀχλύς, the ‘Darkness of Death’ (Sc. 264–5).Footnote 20

  2. (2) We are able to analyse the interpretations given in the ancient versions of the Bible. Their closeness to the original sources and to Greek as a living language at the time the apocalyptic text was translated can tell us much about how it was understood. In the case of χλωρός (Rev 6.8), it reveals the difficulty inherent in the term, as we find two possible translations: pallidus and viridis.

  3. (3) The study of colour terms should not be based on our modern categories of colour, i.e. those rooted in Newtonian colour theory, but rather conducted by adopting the concept of colour which the native speaker of the language had in antiquity. Although the Greeks did not have a systematic theory of colour, they did develop definitions; Plato defined colour as that which is perceived first visually (Charm. 167c–d), as did Aristotle: τὸ γὰρ ὁρατὸν ἐστι χρώμα, ‘what is visible is colour’ (De anima 2.7.4, 18a27). The same concept is also found in De coloribus,Footnote 21 and in later Latin authors.Footnote 22 In light of these definitions and the use of colour terms in antiquity, specialists in this field have concluded that colour was considered to be ‘“what covers” an object. Even in Greek the concept of color refers to the aspect of the surface, in particular as an indicator of an internal state, as in one's complexion.’Footnote 23

The adoption of this concept of colour implies a new step in our methodology, as colour was not conceived of as something abstract, but as concrete and intrinsically united with the object in which it appeared. In many cases, it expressed a state and not merely a quality; for example, in antiquity the abstract concepts of ‘green’ (adjective) or ‘green’ (noun) did not exist, but rather ‘the green grass’, ‘the green tree’ etc. What is more, the use of ‘green’ in reference to grass also expresses its ‘internal state’, its freshness and lushness; in other words, that the grass is alive. Indeed, if it begins to wither, its aspect changes: its green colour becomes yellowish. On many occasions, colour was and still is an external sign of a particular state. In this sense, it is presented not simply as something which covers, but as that which is embodied in a given entity.

As colour terms appear in ancient texts as ‘embodied’Footnote 24 terms, a semantic study of such terms demands that colour lexemes be analysed together with the entities (animals, plants, objects, persons) in which they are embodied. Indeed, in antiquity colours were defined by mentioning the entity that possessed them. Thus, for example, Hippocrates describes ὑπόχλωρος as being like the yolk of an egg (οἷον ἐξ ᾠόν, ‘like the content of an egg’, Mul. 2.11), while the author of De coloribus affirms that all plants are initially the colour of grass (ἐν πᾶσι δὴ τοῖς φυτοῖς ἀρχὴ τὸ ποῶδές ἐστι τῶν χρωματῶν, 794b). Curiously, some modern scholars in the field of cognitive linguistics, upon analysing colour terms and observing their polysemy, have concluded that this is due to a single colour adjective being applied to different cognitive domains. They maintain, for example, that the colour red possesses different meanings when it describes a person's hair or a car, given that these belong to separate cognitive domains (hair and physical objects).Footnote 25

Finally, it should be considered that on occasion the study of such entities in ancient texts may necessarily turn to other disciplines (botany, mineralogy, medicine etc.) in order to obtain the knowledge that was possessed of them at the time, or at least to more closely approximate this.

3. The Semantic Analysis of χλωρός in Rev 6.8

In accordance with our methodology as explained, we have been proceeding towards a semantic analysis of χλωρός. Our study of context has enabled us to establish that χλωρός has a chromatic meaning in Rev 6.8. Although it is not possible to determine this exactly, our research has provided much relevant information to consider. On the one hand, the author is playing with the double meaning of these colours (both real and figurative), as, while the colours of the horses (white, black and sorrel) have their referents in reality, they acquire a symbolic meaning in the text: white/victory,Footnote 26 black/famine, red/war. The chromatic meaning of χλωρός must therefore conform to this premise. At the same time, the rider mounted on the fourth horse is Death and so there is a clear relationship between the two.

The next step, then, is to analyse the information provided by the principal lexicons and dictionaries, applying a specific methodology for studying colour lexemes (the analysis of the entities in which they are embodied), with the aim of acquiring the necessary encyclopaedic knowledge. The following can thus be observed:

  1. (1) Χλωρός generally denotes the colour green and with this a state of freshness and lushness when it is embodied in grass or trees – that is to say, in entities belonging to the cognitive domainFootnote 27 of plants. This meaning is found already in Homer (Od. 16.47)Footnote 28 and, particularly in the Hellenistic period, in the Septuagint (χόρτος χλωρός, Gen 1.30; χλωρὰ βοτάνη, 2 Kings 19.26), Philo (χόρτου χλωροῦ, Leg. All. 1.24) and, later, in the New Testament (χλωρῷ χόρτῳ, Mark 6.39; πᾶς χόρτος χλωρός, Rev 8.7), as well as in early Christian literature (βοτάναι χλωραί, Shepherd of Hermas 101.1).

  2. (2) Χλωρός denotes the colour yellow when it is embodied in entities whose natural colour is yellow, whether ones belonging to the cognitive domain of foods (honey or egg yolk) or natural elements such as sand. This meaning is present in Homer, in Sophocles and in Hellenistic medical literature. However, it does not appear in the Septuagint, in Philo or in the New Testament. Surprisingly, χλωρός is not used to describe grass or vegetation that has withered, as some scholars have proposed,Footnote 29 perhaps because the wilting of the plant is perceived as ξανθός, ‘yellow’ (797a) or darkening its colour. This is at least how the author of De coloribus described the process, employing the verb μελαίνω to explain it (794b).

  3. (3) Χλωρός denotes a ‘pale’ or ‘greenish’ grey when it describes the aspect of a person who is terrified or sick. These meanings appear throughout the history of Greek literature and are found in Homer, Hippocrates, Thucydides and Maximus of Tyre (second century ce).

Once the diverse meanings of χλωρός in the lexicons and dictionaries and the ambivalence present in the Latin versions have been studied, it is time to return to Rev 6.8.

In contrast to the examples cited, χλωρός in Rev 6.8 is embodied in a new cognitive domain, that of animals. The ‘green’ tonalities found in plants and the colour yellow, proper to the entities that denote this colour, are excluded as they belong to other cognitive domains and because the colour of the horse, while it may have a symbolic value, lacks a referent in reality, as there are no green or yellow horses.Footnote 30 It remains, then, to consider the meaning of χλωρός, when embodied in a human being, as describing his or her aspect (i.e. complexion) as terrified or sickly. In this sense, a certain relationship is established because χλωρός is also used to describe the colour of the horse's hide.

The meaning related to fear is excluded because the pericope offers no evidence that the horse itself is frightened. What is more, the structure of the verse in which ἵππος χλωρός appears is exactly the same as those of the other three horses: the opening of the seal (καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξεν τὴν σφραγῖδα, Rev 6.1a, 3a, 5a, 7a), the call (ἔρχου, Rev 6.1b, 3b, 5b, 7b) and the appearance of the horse (καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος, Rev 6.2, 5c, 8).Footnote 31

With regard to the meaning of χλωρός as indicating sickness, we will explore this in more detail, for the close link that exists between sickness and death. In this sense, χλωρός might serve to describe both Death's horse (Rev 6.8) and Ἀχλύς, the ‘Darkness of Death’ (Hesiod, Sc. 264–5). We will look more closely, then, at the Corpus Hippocraticum,Footnote 32 because the Corpus occasionally explains the semantic content of the colours we have just noted, and that it contains numerous examples of the use of χλωρός.

In the Corpus Hippocraticum, we find χλωρός embodied in two different cognitive domains: in plants and in parts of the body. In the first case, χλωρός denotes the characteristic colour of vegetation, green, for example in δάφνης φύλλα χλωρά, ‘green laurel leaves’ (Superf. 32), μυρσίνης κόψας φύλλα χλωρά, ‘pounded green leaves of myrtle’ (Superf. 32) and μίνθην χλωρὴν, ‘green mint’ (Morb. 2.28). However, in the majority of cases χλωρός is used in the context of sickness and describes the symptoms of illnesses such as jaundice, pleurisy (Morb. 2.46) or high fever (Morb. 2.63). Χλωρός is thus embodied in various parts of the human body: χροιή, ‘skin’ (Morb 3.11; Dieb. Iudic. 9), ὀφθαλμοί, ‘eyes’ (Morb. 2.37, 39), γλῶσσα, ‘tongue’ (Morb. 2.37,63), ὄνυχες, ‘nails’ (Morb. 2.77), χολή, ‘bile’ (Morb. 2.73), πύον, ‘pus’ (Morb. 2.57); and in the physical aspect of a woman (Mul. 1.25, 34, 39), etc.

Determining the tonality expressed by χλωρός in these texts is problematic because of the distance in time that makes it difficult to establish a correspondence between modern illnesses and those described in the Corpus Hippocraticum. It is nevertheless clear that, in the texts studied here, χλωρός does not denote the loss of colour. There are several reasons for this:

(1) Χλωρός functions like any adjective of colour, i.e. by describing the colour of a particular entity. A good example of this can be found in Morb. 2.63. The text describes the symptoms of an illness that can lead to pneumonia; among these is that the aspect of the tongue may acquire three tonalities:

ἡ γλῶσσα τρηχέη καὶ μέλαινα καὶ χλωρὴ καὶ ξηρὴ καὶ ἐξέρυθρος ἰσχυρῶς

the tongue is rough, dark, greenish, dry and severely reddened

As can be observed, χλωρός appears as one more hue of the tongue, along with μέλας and ἐξέρυθρος. In this case, χλωρός does not indicate the degree of saturation,Footnote 33 but rather a colour – and so after this the adjective is repeated to describe the colour of eyes (οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ χλωροί). In contrast, when in Morb. 2.63 a shade with a greater saturation is described, the adjective of colour is accompanied by an adverb, ἰσχυρῶς. Thus, ἐξέρυθρος ἰσχυρῶς refers not only to a reddening of the tongue, but also to its intensity: ‘severely reddened’. The same is the case in Prog. 11, although there the hue of ἐρυθρός is further nuanced.Footnote 34 Other examples of the use of χλωρός to describe colour are Prog. 24, where the physical aspect of children is described,Footnote 35 and Dieb. Iudic. 9, in reference to skin colour. Footnote 36

(2) In some writings we find the use of ὑπόχλωρος. This is an adjective that appears in medical or naturalist texts.Footnote 37 Specifically, it describes the ‘livid disease’ (Morb. 2.68) and other illnesses (Morb. 2.74; Mul. 2.9, 11). As we have already mentioned, degrees of saturation in Greek are sometimes expressed by adding prepositions to the colour terms:Footnote 38 ὑπόλευκος, ‘whitish’ (Epid. 3.14), ὕπωχρος, ‘pale yellow’, ὑποπόρφυρος, ‘somewhat purple’, ὑπερέρυθρος ‘very red’, ὑπέρξανθος, ‘very yellow’.Footnote 39 The presence of ὑπό and ὑπέρ modifies the degree of saturation expressed by the term, ὑπό reducing its intensity and ὑπέρ increasing it. Thus, ὑπό in ὑπόχλωρος diminishes the intensity expressed by χλωρός. In the Corpus Hippocraticum, however, the preposition seems to indicate a change not only in saturation but also in hue, as ὑπόχλωρος is defined as being like λεκιθώδης (Epid. 4.14) or οἷον ἐξ ᾠόν, ‘like the content of an egg’ (Mul 2.11), while χλωρός will be defined differently, as we will see later. The difference between χλωρός and ὑπόχλωρος can also be observed in the usage of these terms. Thus, for example, in Prog. 11, when the aspects of excrement that indicate a danger to health are described, these show changes in colour depending on their state, and the colour adjectives are alternated accordingly. When the stool is watery, the colours it presents are:

ἢ λευκὸν, ἢ χλωρὸν, ἢ ἐρυθρὸν ἰσχυρῶς

white, or green, or very red

When the texture is viscous, λευκός is repeated, but not χλωρός; in its place appears ὑπόχλωρος, which indicates a different nuance to the physician:

καὶ λευκὸν, καὶ ὑπόχλωρον

white, and greenish yellow

(3) On occasion, χλωρός is even accompanied by terms that express what today we would call paleness, such as ἄχρους, ‘colourless’Footnote 40 (Loc. Hom. 41 (2x)),Footnote 41 πελιός, ‘discoloured by extravasated blood’, ‘livid’,Footnote 42 or πελιδνός, ‘livid’ (Morb 2. 46, 47).Footnote 43

In any case, Morb. 3.11.1–3 may shed some light on the meaning of χλωρός. This fragment contains an explanation of the symptoms and deadly nature of jaundice (for a sufferer who does not recover from the disease dies within fourteen days). The most notable symptom is the colour that the skin (χροιή) acquires, and this is therefore described in minute detail:

ἴκτερος δὲ ἐστιν ὀξύς τε καὶ ταχέως ἀποκτείνων· ἡ χροιὴ δὲ ὅλη σιδιοειδὴς σφόδρα ἐστί, χλωροτέρη ἢ οἱ σαῦροι οἱ χλωρότεροι· παρόμοιος δὲ καὶ ὁ χρώς·

Jaundice is both acute and rapidly fatal. The whole skin is very much the colour of pomegranate-peel, greener than quite green lizards, and the body the same.Footnote 44

Morb. 3.11.1–3 employs an adjectival lexeme which in turn refers to an entity –σιδιοειδής, ‘like pomegranate-peel’ – and, were this not clear enough, specifies its colour with the colour term χλωρός, which likens it to ‘quite green lizards’. We do not know with certainty what colour this might have been, as lizards today are usually green, but may be a yellowish colour as well. If we consider that in Herodotus 4.192 lizards are compared to crocodiles and that Pliny the Elder uses the adjective viridis to describe lizards (Nat. 29.130), we can deduce that χλωρός denotes a green hue which in contact with a person's skin is logically modified and perceived as greenish or yellowish green – i.e. a green of low saturation.Footnote 45

It can be concluded, then, that when χλωρός is embodied in a sick person it denotes not paleness or loss of colour, but rather a hue that is ‘greener than quite green lizards’, proper to the skin of a sick person who is about to die. This hue may well be related to the colour of the horse ridden by Death in Rev 6.8, since, when humans or animals are in the throes of death, their skin colour changes due to lack of blood supply. This meaning could also be applied to the personification of death, Ἀχλύς (Hesiod, Sc. 264–5), as we know today that this is one of the colours acquired by a dead body.Footnote 46

4. A Further Step in the Methodology: The Definition

The study of χλωρός (Rev 6.8) does not conclude with its semantic analysis. Until now, the lexicons and dictionaries have provided meanings for colour terms that are similar to those in modern languages.Footnote 47 This is true even of Louw and Nida's Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains Footnote 48 or the Diccionario Griego–Español del Nuevo Testamento (DGENT). However, these taxonomies are, as we have seen, insufficient. It is therefore necessary to elaborate definitions for such terms that will bring the scholar of today closer to the concept of colour reflected in the ancient texts, so that he or she, having understood this concept, can establish the translation that seems most appropriate. In this sense, the words of Anna Wierzbicka are especially meaningful:

When it comes to concepts encoded in words of a foreign language, especially a culturally distant one, the intuitive link between a word and a concept is missing, and a full definition is the only way of ensuring true understanding of the cultural universe encoded in the language's lexicon.Footnote 49

What is more, the fact that today's chromatic lexicon is wide and varied,Footnote 50 enriched constantly by the precision of digital media and globalisation, and rooted in the culture and society in which it emerges, so that ‘the meanings of colour terms are cultural artefactors’,Footnote 51 makes the elaboration of definitions that allow meaning to be established all the more necessary.

Thus, in light of this study, the definition will be elaborated from the concept of colour that existed in antiquity, and with the methodology adopted for the semantic study of χλωρός. As a result, the object or entity must always be kept present in the definition, as colour is ‘what covers an object’, and it is this object that will enable us to approximate the colour. We might say that the entity constitutes a ‘cognitive anchor’Footnote 52 between the native speaker and the modern reader, by which the precise meaning of a colour may be obtained. Therefore, the definition of adjectives of colour cannot include another colour adjective, as in that case we would be offering a mere gloss adapted to our own categories of colour and not a true definition. Rather, the definition must refer to the entity or entities in which the colour is embodied, as well as provide whatever information the modern reader needs to identify that entity as it was understood by the native speaker. Finally, as colour terms may also have symbolic connotations, these likewise form part of their meaning and should be included in the definition as well.

The definition of an adjectival colour lexeme must ultimately describe its category (colour, understood most of the time in Greek as a state), the entity or entities in which it is embodied and its symbolic connotations. According to our study, then, χλωρός in Rev 6.8 is defined as ‘the colour of the skin of an animal when death is near; associated with death’.

Finally, we want to provide our own translation. With the aim of avoiding the adaptation of χλωρός to our own categories of colour, which would modify the chromatism of the text, as a gloss we propose ‘death-green’. This designation appears in the Middle Ages in the motto on the shield of René d'AnjouFootnote 53 and, curiously, in his work Horae ad usum Parisiensem, in which Death is depicted as having a colour similar to χλωρός.Footnote 54

5. Conclusion

The various interpretations given to the enigmatic χλωρός in Rev 6.8, not only now but since the second century AD, underscore the difficulty involved in translating adjectives of colour from one language into another, as the chromatic lexicon is inherently linked to the way colour is conceived in the culture where these adjectives emerge and to the richness of its lexicon. It is therefore necessary to adopt a methodology that provides not simply glosses, but rather meanings (concepts) of these colour terms. Only by establishing their meanings can we propose possible translations that correspond to these terms, and which do not bring to mind the Italian adage ‘traduttore, traditore’.

An in-depth study of the context and the recent contributions of cognitive linguistics, together with an exploration of the concept of colour in antiquity, has enabled us to elaborate a specific methodology for the study of colour terms that we hope will be fruitful, not only for New Testament Greek, but also for the Greek of the Septuagint and for other ancient languages. Using this methodology we have identified the various chromatic meanings of χλωρός and resolved the polysemy that we find in Rev 6.8. It is a methodology that arrives at the meanings of lexemes by allowing the texts themselves to speak. It is these texts that have ultimately illuminated the chromatic nuances contained in the problematic χλωρός.

John of Patmos reveals that he possesses a knowledge of the chromatic lexicon proper to a man of his time, because of the diversity of colour terms he uses in the book of Revelation and because of the peculiar way in which he utilises colour language in his work. He also seems to be familiar with the chromatic spectrum of χλωρός. Indeed, he uses the polysemic χλωρός to describe two realities: one visible (grass, vegetation, in Rev 8.7 and 9.4), the other invisible (death, in Rev 6.8). John chooses the colour of the dead and the dying, which was well known to the Johannine community, to describe Death's horse. In this way, he is able to make visible to the listener/reader the reality of the invisible, in this case the sombre presence of death.

Footnotes

This article has been made possible thanks to a research stay at Harvard University at the invitation of Prof. Giovanni Bazzana and a grant from the Fundación San Pablo CEU – Santander Bank. The article forms part of the research developed by the study group The Language of Colour in the Bible LECOBI (PC06/0720).

References

1 Corpus Corporum; available at www.mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/advsuchergebnis.php?suchbegriff=viridi%20equo&table=&level2_name=&from_year=&to_year=&mode=SPH_MATCH_EXTENDED2&lang=0&corpus=2&verses=&lemmatised=&suchenin=corpus, accessed 18/11/19.

2 Vetus Latina Institut and Brepols, Vetus Latina Database (Turnout: Brepols, 2002): Rev 6.8.

3 Conferencia Episcopal Española (CEE), Sagrada Biblia (Madrid: BAC, 2011).

4 Meaning ‘gaunt and drained of colour’ (DLE, s.v. ‘macilento’).

5 Peterson, E., Offenbarung des Johannes und politisch-theologische Texte, vol. iv (Würzburg: Echter, 2004) 82Google Scholar; I. Boxall, The Revelation of Saint John (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson/London: Continuum, 2006) 111: ‘sickly green’; E. Lupieri, L'Apocalisse di Giovanni (Torino: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla – Mondadori, 20095) 148; Belano, A., Apocalisse. Traduzione e analisi filologica (Roma: ARACNE, 2013) 296Google Scholar; Allen, G. V., ‘Zechariah's Horse Visions and Angelic Intermediaries: Translation, Allusion, and Transmission in Early Judaism’, CBQ 79 (2017) 222–39Google Scholar, at 232; Vanni, U., Apocalisse di Giovanni (Assisis: Citadella, 2020) 273Google Scholar; E. Lohmeyer, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (P. Siebeck), 1926) 59 maintains that the colour green is a free translation from the LXX reading of Zech 1.8.

6 Mounce, R. H., The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977) 152 and 156Google Scholar; Aune, D. C., Revelation 6–16 (WBC 52B; Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1998), 400Google Scholar; Smalley, S. S., The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2005) 155Google Scholar; Harrington, W. J., Revelation (Colleville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008) 8Google Scholar; Paul, I., Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary (TNTC 20; London/Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2018) 46Google Scholar.

7 R. H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John: With Introduction, Notes, and Indices, also the Greek Text and English Translation (2 vols.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1920) i.168–9; P. Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001) 271.

8 A. Volokhonskiĭ, ‘Is the Color of that Horse Really Pale?’, The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 18 (1999) 167–8.

9 BDAG s.v. χλωρός.

10 LSJ s.v. χλωρός; BDAG s.v. χλωρός; Bailly, 960 s.v. χλωρός; Brill Dictionary, 2364 s.v. χλωρός. A detailed study can be found in E. Irwin, Colour Terms in Greek Poetry (Toronto: Hakkert, 1974) 31–77.

11 LSJ s.v. χλωρός; Bailly, 960 s.v. χλωρός.

12 Irwin, Colour Terms in Greek Poetry, 65–7; M. González González, ‘Otra lectura para Safo Fr. 31.14, χλωροτέρα . . ποίας ἔμμι’, Veleia (Anejos, Series Minor 17) (2002) 39–46.

13 A more detailed explanation of this methodology can be found in L. García Ureña et al., The Green Dimension of Creation according to the Biblical Native Speaker of Hebrew, Greek and Latin: Introduction, (forthcoming).

14 A characteristic technique of the author of the book of Revelation is to describe his vision through aspects and elements that can be discerned through the sense of sight: L. García Ureña, Narrative and Drama in the Book of Revelation: A Literary Approach (SNTSMS 175; Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019).

15 Volokhonskiĭ, ‘Is the Color of that Horse Really Pale?’, 168. It is true that John's vision is related to the eighth vision of Zechariah (Zech 6.2–3), as claimed by Volokhonskiĭ, but also to the first (Zech 1.8). John seems to reinterpret these two versions, which do not coincide either in the number of horses (three in the first and four in the eighth) or in their colour. This chromatic variation is present in the Hebrew text, which describes a group of horses with the term שרק (Zech 1.8) and others such as ברדים אמצים (Zech 6.3). The Septuagint unifies their colours and uses ψαροί (Zech 1.8) to translate both שרק (Zech 1.8) and ברדים (Zech 6.3), thus offering a chromatic interpretation of אמצים ’ămuṣîm, which it translates as the adjective ποικίλοι. The Vulgate provides an interpretation along the same lines as the Septuagint: varius (Zech 1.8) and varii fortes (Zech 6.3). Affirming that χλωρός is the Johannine reading of אמצים ’ămuṣîm would be to ignore not only the chromatic context of the Johannine pericope, but the semantic content of χλωρός (which expresses freshness and youth in contexts related to moistness, cf. body of the text) and to blindly accept the version used by John of Patmos when today we know that different textual sources were then in circulation (perhaps one in Hebrew and several in Greek – OG, 8Hevxiigr, [proto] Hexaplaric revisions: Allen, ‘Zechariah's Horse Visions’, 223).

16 The author of De coloribus states that horses may be white, grey, reddish or black: λευκά καὶ φαιὰ καὶ πυρρὰ καὶ μέλανα (797a). It is true, in any case, that these colours – μέλανες, ‘black’, πυρροί, ‘sorrel’ and λευκοί, ‘white – appear in the apocalyptic visions of Zechariah that have already been mentioned (n. 15).

17 U. Vanni, ‘Il simbolismo nell'Apocalisse’, Greg 61 (1980) 461–506; L. García Ureña, ‘Colour Adjectives in the New Testament’, NTS 61 (2015) 219–38, at 232–7; ‘The Book of Revelation: A Chromatic Story’, Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense lxiv: New Perspectives on the Book of Revelation (ed. A. Yarbro Collins; Leuven/Paris/Bristol, CT: Peeters, 2017) 393–419.

18 R. W. Langacker, ‘Context, Cognition and Semantics: A Unified Dynamic Approach’, Job 28: Cognition in Context (Biblical Interpretation Series 64; ed. E. J. Van. Wolde; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2003) 179–230, at 187.

19 R. Janko, ‘The Shield of Heracles and The Legend of Cycnus’, The Classical Quarterly 36 (1986) 38–59, at 38–9. The precise date is uncertain, but thought to be the mid or late sixth century bce: J. Signes Cordoñer, Escritura y literatura en la Grecia arcaica (Tres Cantos: Akal, 2004) 213–14.

20 Translation by E.-W. G. Hugh, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (rev. edn; LCL 57; London: Heinemann/Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936).

21 De coloribus is the first specific treatise on colour, dating from the late fourth century–early third century bce. Its authorship has long been attributed to Aristotle, although this is contested today, as its style and the manner of presenting its content are quite removed from the usual Aristotelian dialectical and speculative discourse (Aristotle, I colori e i suoni (ed. M. F. Ferrini; Milan: Bompiani, 2008) 41–2, 56, 67 n. 3).

22 M. Bradley, Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009) 74–86, 87–110.

23 S. Bussata, ‘The Perception of Color and the Meaning of Brilliance among Archaic and Ancient Populations and its Reflections on Language’, Antrocom Online Journal of Anthropology 10 (2014) 300–47, at 312. In the same line, Maria Fernanda Ferrini in her introduction to De coloribus, in the section entitled I colori e la riflessione antica sulla visione (I colori e i suoni, 56–65).

24 Not from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, but in the sense that colour has a physical form.

25 M. J. Cuenca and J. Hilferty, Introducción a la lingüística cognitiva (Barcelona: Planeta, 20182) 72–3.

26 The white horse has been interpreted in various ways. A good status quaestionis can be found in Aune, Revelation 6–16, 393–4. On the meaning of the colour white in the book of Revelation, see García Ureña, ‘The Book of Revelation: A Chromatic Story’, 395–6 and 418–19; ‘Colour Adjectives in the New Testament’, 233–8.

27 R. W. Langacker, Foundations of Cognitive Grammar (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987) 488: ‘a coherent area of conceptualization relative to which semantic units may be characterized’. For a more detailed study: A. Cienki, ‘Frames, Idealised Cognitive Models, and Domains’, The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (ed. D. Geeraerts and H. Cuyckens; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) 170–87.

28 See above, section 2. A good summary can be found in BDAG s.v. χλωρός.

29 CEE, n. 6.8.

30 Nor are these hues mentioned in the apocalyptic visions of Zechariah.

31 Rev 6.4 omits the formula.

32 We have drawn upon data provided by the Loeb Classical Library Database: J. Loeb and J. Henderson, Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press, 2014); web site accessed 28/8/19. As is well known, the dating of the books that comprise the corpus is debatable, but we offer the latest contributions in this regard: Morb 2 and Morb 3 are thought to be from the mid-fifth century bce; Loc. Hom. from around 450 bc; Prog. from the late-fifth century bcE; Dieb. Iudic. late, of uncertain date; Epid. 2 from around 410 BCE; and Mul. 1 and 2 from the late-fifth or early-fourth century bce (E. M. Craik, The ‘Hippocratic’ Corpus: Content and Context (Abingdon/New York: Routledge, 2015) 180, 184, 162, 237, 144, 90, 206).

33 In contrast to what was believed in the Hellenistic world, today we consider colour as consisting of three elements: hue (the length of the wave; that is to say, its colouration); brightness (the quantity of light emitted, by which we may refer to darker or lighter colours); and saturation (the intensity of that aspect which causes colours to appear bolder or more faded). In modern languages, saturation is expressed by the use of adjectives such as ‘pale’: pale blue, pale green etc.

34 In the Corpus Hippocraticum we also find compound forms used to express degrees of colour saturation: ἐρυθρόχλωρος, ‘pale red’ (Epid. 6. 3); ὑπέρλευκος, ‘exceeding white’ (Mul. 2.111); ὑπόλευκος, ‘whitish’ (Epid. 3.14). This phenomenon is frequent in Greek medical literature (ξανθόλευκος, ‘pale yellow’ (LSJ s.v., citing Gal. 17(1).835); ὠχρόξανθος, ‘of a pale yellow colour’ (LSJ s.v., citing Gal. 14.81), although not exclusive to it (μελίχλωρος, ‘honey-yellow’ (Plato, Resp. 474e; Arist. Physign. 812a19; Theocritus 10.27]).

35 καὶ τὸ χρῶμα μεταβάλλωσι, καὶ χλωρὸν ἢ πελιὸν ἢ ἐρυθρὸν ἴσχωσιν.

36 In the edition by P. Potter, Hippocrates, vol. ix (LCL 509; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994) 308: χλωροτέρη ἢ οἱ σαῦροι οἱ χλωρότεροι· παρόμοιος δὲ καὶ ὠχρός. However, É. Littré (Oeuvres complètes d'Hippocrate, vol. ix (Paris: Baillière, 1811; repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1962) 298–306) proposes ὁ χρώς instead of ὠχρός, because the fragment appears in Morb. 3.11.1–3 with this reading. It is well known that in the Corpus Hippocraticum there are fragments that are repeated.

37 P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque. Histoire des mots (Paris: Klincksieck, 1968) s.v. ὑπόχλωρος.

38 See above, n. 34.

39 LSJ s.vv.

40 LSJ s.v.

41 This describes a person's physical aspect.

42 LSJ s.v. See above, n. 35.

43 LSJ s.v.

44 Text and translation by Potter, Hippocrates, ix.309. Cf. n. 36.

45 This explains Galen's commentary in which χλωρός is used to describe people. According to the Hippocratic commentator (xvii1 928S. K.), χλωρός is not as intense as the green of grass, and so he affirms that it possesses lower saturation; for this reason he uses the colour term ὠχρός: οὐκ ἒχοντας ὁμοίαν τῇ χλόῃ τὴν χρόαν, αλλὰ μᾶλλον ὠχράν. This is supported by A. Lorenzoni, who notes that Galen emphasises that χλωρός, when applied to people in the Corpus Hippocraticum, primarily denotes the colour green (‘Eustazio: paura “verde” e oro “pallido”’, Eikasmos (1994) 139–63, at 144). It may also be relevant that sixteenth-century translations of On the Disease of Virgins were instrumental to the incorporation of ‘pale’ into English medical vernacular, according to Helen King: ‘the green skin, adopted from green jaundice, was replaced by claims for the paleness of the sufferer's complexion’ (The Disease of Virgins: Green Sickness, Chlorosis, and the Problems of Puberty (London/New York: Routledge, 2004) 42).

46 S. E. Presnell et al., ‘Postmortem Changes : Overview, Definitions, Scene Findings’, available at https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1680032-overview, accessed 13/10/2015: ‘Putrefaction involves the action of bacteria on the tissues of the body. This process, prevalent in moist climates, is associated with green discoloration of the body.’ I am grateful to Prof. Bandrés Moya, Director of the Cátedra Extraordinaria de Diagnóstico e Innovación, UCM, for the bibliographical information provided.

47 See above, section 2.

48 Louw–Nida tends to provide definitions of terms rather than translations. This is not the case, however, with colour terms (79.26–38).

49 A. Wierzbicka, Lexicography and Conceptual Analysis (Ann Arbor: Karoma, 1985) 5.

50 A significant example of this is fact that the Diccionario Akal del color includes more than a hundred types of green, from lime green to sumac green: J. C. Sanz and R. Gallego, Diccionario Akal del color (Madrid: Akal, 2001) 931–51.

51 A. Wierzbicka, ‘The Meaning of Color Terms: Semantics, Culture, and Cognition’, Cognitive Linguistics (Includes Cognitive Linguistic Bibliography) 1 (1990) 99–150, at 142.

52 Wierzbicka, ‘The Meaning of Color Terms’, 141.

53 L. Hablot, ‘L'orange et le vert au Moyen Age’, Vert et orange: deux couleurs à travers l'histoire (ed. J. Grevy; Limoges: Presses Universitaire Limoges, 2013) 21–42, at 42.

54 Horae ad usum Parisiensem, folio 113v; available at BnF: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6000466t/f238.item, accessed 25/9/20.