Read across the colour table

Wilson’s 1899 colour list places English glosses beside Romanised Shahpur entries. Kālā is paired with black, while chittā and baggā share the white gloss. The two white entries are linked by the page’s grouping mark, so reading the rows independently would miss their relationship. Rattā appears with red. This page offers a particular historical vocabulary with alternatives; it does not establish that each English colour has only one Punjabi equivalent. The printed arrangement is part of the evidence, especially where more than one headword shares a gloss.[2]

An object can change the gloss

Several subsequent entries qualify a colour by the animal being described. Nīlā has a blue gloss and a dark-grey explanation for cattle. Pīlā is yellow, with a light-red qualification for cattle; sāwā is green, with a grey explanation for horses and cattle. The extra words specify the setting of a gloss. Removing the animal qualifier would turn a contextual description into a much broader claim. When reading an account of livestock, retain those details with the headword. The same table therefore supports several distinctions that a simple list of English colour labels would conceal.[2]

Meaning and adjective form are separate questions

The 1851 Lodiana grammar uses its word glossed as white to illustrate adjective inflection. The table separates masculine and feminine forms and sets singular beside plural, with additional case relations shown down the page. Its purpose is to demonstrate how an adjective’s form appears within the grammatical system. Recognising the colour meaning is only one part of reading such an example. The form must also be followed through the row and column in which it occurs. Comparing this paradigm with Wilson’s vocabulary keeps two questions visible: what a description means in its stated setting, and how the describing word is formed.[1]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Lodiana American Presbyterian Mission Press; J. Newton attribution in the archive catalogue; Rev. J. Porter, press superintendent. A Grammar of the Panjabi Language; with Appendices ↗Historical descriptive and teaching grammar · Source date: 1851 · Locator: Printed p.14/PDF27: §46 white-adjective paradigm and its gender/number/case arrangement. Accessed 2026-11-02.Selected actual original pages were inspected, with page images controlling script and table alignment. This is a dated description, without a listening check or certification of current universal usage. Original attribution and finite text scope remain qualified.Return to Meaning and adjective form are separate questions, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. J. Wilson; acknowledged assistance of Munshi Mahbub Alam; Punjab Government Press. Grammar and Dictionary of Western Panjabi, as Spoken in the Shahpur District, with Proverbs, Sayings and Verses ↗Historical district grammar and dictionary · Source date: 1899 imprint; preface September 1898 · Locator: Vocabulary printed p.28/PDF112: colour list, white-entry grouping and animal-specific qualifications. Accessed 2026-11-02.Selected actual original pages were inspected, with page images controlling script and table alignment. This is a dated description, without a listening check or certification of current universal usage. Original attribution and finite text scope remain qualified.Return to Read across the colour table, paragraph 1 ↑Return to An object can change the gloss, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-LAN-0093 · English edition · human review not performed