A place for the Everett Family. Used for family news, random bits of interesting stuff found via the Internet, Monkey Friday, Left Hand Alert and whatever we decide to post.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Why?
I tried to answer the below question via various searchs on the Internet with no success. Can anybody else find the answer?
The question: Why is the color green associated with jealousy and envy?
Here is all that I could find. http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/1/messages/2195.html "Why do we turn green with envy? Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver report that 'green' and 'pale' were alternate meanings of the same Greek word. In the seventh century B.C., the poetess Sappho, used the word 'green' to describe the complexion of a stricken lover. The Greeks believed that jealousy was accompanied by an overproduction of bile, lending a pallid green cast to the victim. Ovid, Chaucer, and Shakespeare followed suit, freely using 'green' to denote jealousy or envy. Perhaps the most famous such reference is Iago's speech in Act 3 of Othello: O! beware my lord, of Jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on. Although we are now more likely to ascribe the pallor of a friend to a questionable tuna fish salad sandwich rather than an emotional fit, 'green with envy' remains entrenched. P.S. I'm an excellent golfer
1 comment:
Here is all that I could find.
http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/1/messages/2195.html
"Why do we turn green with envy? Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver report that 'green' and 'pale' were alternate meanings of the same Greek word. In the seventh century B.C., the poetess Sappho, used the word 'green' to describe the complexion of a stricken lover. The Greeks believed that jealousy was accompanied by an overproduction of bile, lending a pallid green cast to the victim.
Ovid, Chaucer, and Shakespeare followed suit, freely using 'green' to denote jealousy or envy. Perhaps the most famous such reference is Iago's speech in Act 3 of Othello:
O! beware my lord, of Jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
Although we are now more likely to ascribe the pallor of a friend to a questionable tuna fish salad sandwich rather than an emotional fit, 'green with envy' remains entrenched.
P.S. I'm an excellent golfer
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