[General] dun-coloured

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to help me to understand the proper meaning of the term in bold in the following sentences?

I HEARD, once again for the first time, Richard Wagner's overture to the Mastersinger: it is a piece of magnificent, gorgeous, heavy, latter-day art, which has the pride to presuppose two centuries of music as still living, in order that it may be understood:--it is an honour to Germans that such a pride did not miscalculate!What flavours and forces, what seasons and climes do we not find mingled in it! It impresses us at one time as ancient, at another time as foreign, bitter, and too modern, it is as arbitrary as it is pompously traditional, it is not infrequently roguish, still oftener rough and coarse—it has fire and courage, and at the same time the loose, dun-coloured skin of fruits which ripen too late.

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

[bhaisahab]

Dun-coloured means a dull brownish colour.

[Tdol]

Browny-grey to me.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by Tdol

Browny-grey to me.

Everyone sees colours differently and it is extremely subjective.

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by vil

the loose, dun-coloured skin of fruits which ripen too late.

This is a dun-coloured apple: http://www.ornamentaltree.co.uk/Images/egrrus.jpg

and this is another dun-coloured fruit: Medlar Tree 'Nottingham' (Mespilus germanica 'Nottingham')

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by Anglika

This is a dun-coloured apple: http://www.ornamentaltree.co.uk/Images/egrrus.jpg

and this is another dun-coloured fruit: Medlar Tree 'Nottingham' (Mespilus germanica 'Nottingham')

It has always carried a negative connotation to me since I first read this sonnet:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
Coral is far more red than her lips red,
If snow be white, why then her breasts be dun
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by bhaisahab

Everyone sees colours differently and it is extremely subjective.

I am very sorry; I hope you didn't think I was correcting you. I hadn't actually seen your answer as I had left the window open for a while when away from the computer.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by Tdol

I am very sorry; I hope you didn't think I was correcting you. I hadn't actually seen your answer as I had left the window open for a while when away from the computer.

Absolutely OK
As I said in my next post, our conception of colour is extremely subjective, my wife, who is an artist, and I often disagree about how we would describe a particular colour.

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by bhaisahab

Absolutely OK
As I said in my next post, our conception of colour is extremely subjective, my wife, who is an artist, and I often disagree about how we would describe a particular colour.

It is a particular problem as so many men have slight "colour-blindness" which is comparatively rare in women. When dealing with graphic designers on book covers, one had to be very aware of the way in which they perceived colour. Designers who habitually used tertiary colours usually could be shown to have a colour perception deficit.