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Cave Bear (mander.xyz)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[-] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

In fact, the word "brown" is the morph of the original word for bear. Whatever humans used for brown was overshadowed long ago by the very experience of bear itself, and the color alone became a prevalent warning against that thing that is the single most terrifying brown in existence.

[-] sepia_sempervirens@yiffit.net 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Well, maybe. There's also a competing hypothesis that says it's the other way around, i.e. "bear" is derived from "brown"; the old word for "bear" became taboo, possibly for fear that speaking the beast's name would summon it. Either way, the fear of bears has certainly left a mark on the Germanic languages.

[-] v_krishna@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

Orange too. What did those horrible citrus fruits do to our ancestors???

[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

Describes the stimulus and the response.

this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2023
657 points (99.1% liked)

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