From Proto Indo European gro or gre, meaning “to grow, become green”; its descendants also include grow and grass. Green itself comes from a suffixed form, gro-nyo, meaning something like “grown”. In West Germanic it became gronja (note the “j” was pronounced like “y”), and then groeni in early Old English and later grene.

Phonosemantically, green begins at the Source (”g”) and then is infused with great energy (”r”) which is maintained for a long time with stamina (long “e”), and closing with a noble goal (”n”). Compare with grow, which begins with the same Source and great energy, but is a wholesome, earthy energy (long “o”), and continues indefinitely; or with grass, the energy of which is balanced and flat (short “a”) and resolves into strength, flexibility, and multiplicity (”s”); or with grain (which looks related but isn’t — it’s related to granular and corn and kernel), which is elastic and spreads out wide (long “a”) before heading for its own noble goal (”n”).

Note: green is my favorite color.

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