Hacker News

I'll comment this separately because it refers to a Hacker News comment, and it's a bit of off-topic:

Differences are quite common with colour terms - you don’t need to go to Japanese (blue-green) or Ancient Greek (wine dark sea) for this.

While the comment that this excerpt comes from is mostly accurate, including the core claim, the Greek example is not.

This myth that Ancient Greek considered the sea "wine-coloured" comes from people lacking poetic sensibility misinterpreting excerpts of the Illiad and the Odyssey, where Homer uses the expression οἶνοψ πόντος / oînops póntos "wine-eyed sea". Like this one:

• [Original] νῦν δ᾽ ὧδε ξὺν νηὶ κατήλυθον ἠδ᾽ ἑτάροισιν // πλέων ἐπὶ οἴνοπα πόντον ἐπ᾽ ἀλλοθρόους ἀνθρώπους,
• [1919 English translation] And now have I put in here, as thou seest, with ship and crew, while sailing over the wine-dark sea [SIC - poor translation IMO] to men of strange speech

"Wine-eyed" does not refer to the colour. Homer is calling the sea a drunkard - it's violent, erratic, whimsy, drowsy. Mentes (actually Athena) in this excerpt is highlighting the difficulties of his travels, that involve dealing with barbarians and with a violent sea.

The same applies to other excerpts.