Colors: Blue, Green, and Orange

[Pxullte]

I was putting together a list of colors, and was reminded that Blue and Green in Na'vi share a name: ean, and so does Orange and Red: tun

why is this? and more importantly, is there a way to clearly differentiate Green from blue, and red from orange while speaking in Na'vi?

[Tanri]

Kaltxì ma plout1,
Yes, the basic color chart in Na'vi can be little confusing because of sharing names for different colors.
To distinguish between them, Na'vi most often use the adposition "na" - "like" and compare the color to some well known object.

For example:
ean na ta'leng, often shortened to ta'lengean - "blue as a skin (of the Na'vi)"
ean na rìk, shortened to rìkean - "green as a leaf"

More information about the colors you can find here, on the prof. Frommer's blog.

[Plumps]

Everything that Tanri said

As to why this is...
This phenomenon (at least for blue and green) appears in several Earth languages, as far as I know. At least in Irish, I am very certain that there is at least one word that covers both meanings. I am not sure whether there are theories as to why this is. Maybe the shades of these colours lie very close together and can blend into one another. Especially in an environment where a lot of shades of green (as in a rain forest) come together it is perhaps harder to distinguish between one specific green... Just a guess

[Pxullte]

ahhh Irayo ma Tanri, sì ma plumps
this helped me out a ton! I am just beginning to learn Na'vi and need all the help I can get! 
Irayo again

[Amaya]

Everything that Tanri said

As to why this is...
This phenomenon (at least for blue and green) appears in several Earth languages, as far as I know. At least in Irish, I am very certain that there is at least one word that covers both meanings. I am not sure whether there are theories as to why this is. Maybe the shades of these colours lie very close together and can blend into one another. Especially in an environment where a lot of shades of green (as in a rain forest) come together it is perhaps harder to distinguish between one specific green... Just a guess

Not in Gaielge, ma Plumps, it has two words for green (glas - living/magic green (and sometimes grey, as when discribing grey eyes) and uaine for things coloured green) and a different word for blue (gorm)

The one with one word for both blue and green is Japanese.  Aoi can mean blue or green, just as ean does in Na'vi.

[Plumps]

Really
According to my dictionary féar gorm means 'blue (green) gras, dark-blue, livid, purple'
But I could be wrong... Haven't done that much in a very long time

[Amaya]

Really
According to my dictionary féar gorm means 'blue (green) gras, dark-blue, livid, purple'
But I could be wrong... Haven't done that much in a very long time

Ahhhhh, yes, "Féar Gorm" is what we would call green grass, but hey, even in our "green" grass there's "Texas Blue Grass".  It's like what in English we'd call "black people" are "Duine Gorm" instead. 

Which brings us to how helpful the Na'vi colour system is!  What one person calls "blue-green" might fit under "green" or "blue" for another, but anyone can indicate the colour of the leaf of a particular tree and know what everyone else is talking about

['Oma Tirea]

To differientiate red from orange, I might use these:

Tun-na-txep: orange
Tun-na-reypay: red

Haya tìpawm: what about mixing colors?  How would fko go about translating indigo, or a grayish red (such as is seen on some rocks)?

[Blue Elf]

To differientiate red from orange, I might use these:

Tun-na-txep: orange
Tun-na-reypay: red

Haya tìpawm: what about mixing colors?  How would fko go about translating indigo, or a grayish red (such as is seen on some rocks)?

Construction X na Y (X is basic color, Y is object whose color you are comparing with) is correct, so to say grayish red it should be used tun-na-something_with _similar_color.
I used this in my vur: Tokx peyä lu ta'lengean ta'em sì ean nìneyn ta kllpa. Although nobody was uncomfortable with this expression, I can't say it is correct - may be it should be shown to Paul to judge