What’s in a word? “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” says Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.
I have never questioned blue or the phrase ”feeling blue” before. The connection just feels …right. But, when I look it up in various dictionaries, the association has got many explanations. Here are some:
In Greek mythology, blue is associated with rain. When Zeus was sad or crying, he would make it rain. Thus, the connection between the colour and the feeling.
Geoffrey Chaucer used ‘blewe’ in his poem ”The Complaint of Mars”. He writes: ”Wyth teres blewe and with a wounded herte.”
Which basically translates to: ”With tears blue and with a wounded heart”.
A naval explanation might be the old custom followed by deepwater sailing ships – If the ship lost the captain or any of the officers during its voyage, she would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her entire hull when returning to home port.
A scientific explanation is the proximity of dark blue to black on the colour scale, and the results of two studies indicating that feeling sadness may actually change how we perceive colour.
But blue is beautiful. It is the colour of our planet Earth. The Blue Planet.
Leya 
blue is beautiful and it can be a happy color, too! great post, Ann-Christine! 🙂 🙂
Thank you, Wilma, I totally agree.
I love blue!!
😚
What a brilliant post ! Who knew ‘feeling blue’ had so much History.
Great that you liked this too – I had never thought about it before. But, we don’t have that association or meaning in Swedish, so I guess that is why I looked it up.
An interesting post, but I don’t find the colour blue sad at all, it is my favourite colour and especially these beautiful blues you have illustrated. What is better than a blue summer sky? Blue makes me happy.
I cannot but agree with you, Jude. And, in Swedish we do not have that saying either!
Not feeling at all blue looking at those lovely images!
Thank you, Margaret – blue does not make me feel blue either!
No time to feel blue looking at your wonderful photos which cheer Ann-Christine ❤
♥
Interesting post (and wonderful photos), but I love blue and it doesn’t make me feel blue at all. 🙂
janet
It doesn’t make me feel blue either!
High, this is very Interesting stuff! I have never even thought about it before. Wow!
Laura, neither had I ! Glad you found it interesting too.
Wow, a beautiful image and a lesson! Wonderful post.
Thank you, Anne – ♥
Beautiful images (especially the ones with tear-like raindrops) and back story to the color blue. I associate blue with (sad) songs – ”Blue” by Joni Mitchell is a gorgeous example. Sadness affecting how we perceive color…now that’s really interesting. I agree with you too – that blue is indeed beautiful.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for commenting