Is there such a thing as orange?

[Ian61]

That's very interesting. What you are effectively saying is that actual soldiers worry much less about the correct nomenclature of their weaponry or what actual colour their clothes are so long as they do the job required.
Reading Adrian Goldsworthy's Napoleonic sequence makes it clear that however smart and colourful the regiment is at the start of a campaign bears little resemblance to the reality after months in the field and a few battles/skirmishes. This tallies with what we are often told about Hanibal's army.

[Duncan Head]

The Greek is 'portokáli' but again this could be a more modern usage.

Yep - looks like it meant the fruit before it meant the colour, and derives from an Italian dialect portogallo, which in turn derives from Portogallo the country.

Apparently one classical Greek word is σανδαράκινος, sandarakinos but it is a fairly rare term.

[Erpingham]

To take the weapons, it seems to be more like "if it looks like a duck ...". Part of the problem is that non-soldiers (like chroniclers or inventory clerks) just used a term they were familiar with.

With colours, like today, some could be specific and some broad.  So, for example, tawney could encompass a range of shades of brown.

[Jim Webster]

Indeed Twany is a good example of how the use of colours can be different in different circumstances

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[Andreas Johansson]

Out of period question : was Gustavus Adolphus' Yellow Regiment really yellow, or was it Brandgul?

Not my period, but my money would be on really yellow. It's certainly a prominent colour on Swedish uniforms later in the 17th century, while orange AFAIK doesn't occur. Also, a golden yellow would seem suitable for the unit's prestigious status.

Googling a little, I find no statement on the shade of yellow used, but I learn that apparently only the elite drabanter of the regiment had yellow uniforms, while the rest of the men used yellow cord to mark their membership.

[Keraunos]

Thank you.

[Cantabrigian]

Of course, we don't actually see orange - our eyes only have detectors for red, green, and blue light, which is why colour displays work.

Modern displays aren't RGB - they're actually RGGB because our sensitivity to shade is greatest with green light.

[Denis Grey]

Trespassing on Imperial Dave's territory, but for a long time the Welsh used the same word (glas) for both blue and green.

And the use of "pink" to describe a colour is a late 17th century innovation.

[Ian61]

Of course, we don't actually see orange - our eyes only have detectors for red, green, and blue light, which is why colour displays work.

Modern displays aren't RGB - they're actually RGGB because our sensitivity to shade is greatest with green light.

Indeed. And from the opposite end I am grateful to this forum for helping me to discover bulbs with very high cri (colour rendering index) as you can only see the light that is bouncing off a model. Makes a huge difference when painting of an evening.