Farbenfroh: Colorful Expressions - German Color Symbolism

GERMAN COLOR SYMBOLISM AND EXPRESSIONS

Every language has its own colorful expressions and symbolism, including German. But here we're talking about colorful (bunt, farbenfroh) in a literal sense: expressions that contain grün, rot,blau, schwarz, braun, and other colors.

In English we can "feel blue," "be yellow," or "see red." In German these colors may or may not have the same meaning. In an earlier feature, Idioms: Talk like a German, I mentioned several blau idioms, because "blau" can have numerous meanings in German, including "drunk" or "black" (as in "black eye").

In Germany and Austria political parties are often identified by or associated with a specific color. Both the Austrian and German conservative parties are black (schwarz), while the socialists arered (rot). Various other political parties in German-speaking Europe are identified by other colors, and one political coalition is even called a "traffic-light" coalition (Ampelkoalition, i.e., red, yellow, green - SPD, FDP, Grüne).

Below, we expand on the color(ful) vocabulary theme to include a mix of several colors. This is a representative collection and is not meant to be exhaustive. It also leaves out expressions that are similar or the same in English, i.e., "rot sehen" (to see red), "die Welt durch eine rosa Brille sehen" (to see the world through rose colored glasses), etc. But it includes words that contain a color (eine Farbe), especially when the meaning varies from the English.

Colorful Expressions
Deutsch	English
BLAU	BLUE
blau anlaufen lassen	to temper (metal)
das Blaue vom Himmel versprechen	to promise the moon
blauer Montag	a Monday off (usually for personal reasons); "St. Monday"
das Blaulicht	(flashing) blue light (police)
BRAUN	BROWN
braun werden	to tan, get brown
der Braunkohl	(curly) kale
die Braunkohle	brown (bituminous) coal
GELB	YELLOW
die gelbe Partei	the "yellow party" (Free Democrats, FDP - Ger. political party)
die gelbe Post WEB > Deutsche Post AG	the "yellow post" (office); mail service, as opposed to banking, telephone, and telegraph; yellow is the color of German mail boxes and postal vehicles
die Gelben Seiten	the Yellow Pages
Yellow (gelb) has no association with cowardice in German, as it does in English.
GRAU	GRAY/GREY
alles grau in grau malen	to paint everything black, be pessimistic
es graut; beim Grauen des Tages*	dawn is breaking; at day-break
in grauer Ferne	in the distant (indefinite) future
* "grauen" - as in "es graut mir" (it horrifies me) - is a different verb.
GRÜN	GREEN
grüne Welle	green wave (synchronized traffic lights)
die Grünen	The Greens (Ger. political party)
im Grünen; bei Mutter Grün	outdoors, in the open air
ROT	RED
etwas rot anstreichen	to mark something in red (as a special day, a "red letter day," etc.)
die Roten (pl)	the Reds (socialists, SPD - Ger. political party)
roter Faden	leitmotiv, theme (novel, opera, play, etc.)
rote Welle	red wave (unsynchronized traffic lights - ironic humor)
SCHWARZ	BLACK
schwarz	Catholic, conservative (political); orthodox; illegal(ly)
schwarz	CDU/CSU (Ger. political party)
schwarzarbeiten	to work illegally (w/o paying taxes, etc.)
schwärzen; Schwärzer	to smuggle; smuggler
schwarzfahren	to ride without a ticket; stow away
ins Schwarze treffen	to hit the bull's eye; hit the nail on the head
WEISS	WHITE
weißbluten	to bleed (someone) dry (money)
weiße Woche	white sale (white week)
die Weißwurstgrenze (Mainlinie)**	Germany's "Mason-Dixon Line" (north-south border)
** "Weißwurstgrenze" refers to a type of Bavarian "white" sausage (Weißwurst)