Maa has an extremely rich set of about 30 color, and about 20 color-plus-design terms.  Five of the color terms are Stative Verbs.  The others are Adjectives. Some of the adjectival color terms clearly have developed from words that primarily designate objects, but for others there is no known synchronic noun (or verb) that they are related to.  Some color terms are not known throughout the entire Maa-speaking area, while others are very wide-spread.

Table 1 contains color and design terms which, as far as we know, do not come from other more-basic Maasai words which name objects or actions.

Table 1. MAASAI BASIC COLOR AND DESIGN TERMS
(Terms marked  with  + are probably basic in the sense of Berlin and Kay)

	STATIVE VERB	GLOSS	ADJECTIVE	GLOSS
			spíà	'dark, almost black'
			(+) múgíé	'light to dark brown'
	+a-rk	'be black'	(k)áldès	'warm brown'
BASIC (underived)	+a-br	'be white'	irô	'grayish brown'
COLOR TERMS	+a-d	'be (blood-)red'	ómò	'light brown (of sheep only)'
	+a-nyr	'be green'	barrikóì	'tan; light brown-yellow'
	+a-nyokíé	'be red'	síntêt	'yellow-orange/pink; gray'
			bárláí	'bright orange' (Central Maa)
			+ps	'blue / gray' (varies by dialect)
			ars	'spotted black with white on underside'
BASIC (underived)			keshéròì	'red body; white face'
COLOR+DESIGN			kúrrúkúr	'random pattern of two colors; equal  intensity'
TERMS			púkótì	'black & white blend; whole appears blue'
			sámpù	'brown & tan striped / variegated'
			sántétua	' varicolored with conspicuous colors -  green, black, red, yellow'
			wúâs	'patchy, with big patch on side of belly'

Table 2 contains color and design terms which are derived from other Maa words whose primary meaning refers to an object or action.  The color and design senses develop as the object/action words are used to refer to characteristics or resultant states typical of the object/action.  This is a very common process in all languages.     In English, for example, the word peach is most basically the name of a type of fruit (i.e., the name of an object).  But peach can also name the color of a dress or the ink in a pen which is similar to the typical color of this fruit.    It is the same process that accounts for the root in olowuarú 'carniverous beast' also being used to mean 'light red-brown color with camouflaging effect'.

Table 2.  MASAI DERIVED COLOR AND DESIGN TERMS
(Terms marked  with  + are probably basic in the sense of Berlin and Kay)

	STATIVE VERB	SOURCE of VERB (ALL ARE ACTIVE VERBS)	ADJECTIVE	GLOSS	SOURCE of ADJECTIVE  (ALL ARE NOUNS)	GLOSS
			sagáràràmì	'light-blue, purple'	o-sagáràràmì	'acacia fruit/pods'
			kúkúó	'dark black, charcoal'	en-kúkúó	'piece of charcoal'
			dr	'gray'	n-dr	'vervet monkey' (Samburu dialect)
			sérò	'dull dark gray'	o-sérò	'dry brush'
DERIVED			kútáí	'cloud-white'	?in-kútà	'rain water'
COLOR			ókúrúóí	'ash-white'	en-kúrúóí	'hunk of ash'
TERMS			sírùà	'cloud-white, nearing gray'	o-sírùà	'eland'
			sépérua	'light brown'	e-sépérua	'serval cat'
			l rá	'golden brown'	-lrá	'acacia tree'
			+sikítóì	'yellow'	i-sikítòk	'colustrum milk'
			túlélèì	'shiny yellow'	o-túlélèì	'Sodom apple'
			owuarú	'light red-brown; gray; with camouflaging effect'	ol-owuarú	'carniverous beast'
			moríjoi	'deep red, maroon'	ol-moríjoi	'poison-arrow tree'
			pl	'light red-based color'	ol-pl	'unripe pus'
			súyaán	'gray'	o-súyaní	'wild dog, wolf'
	a-irimó	a-irím	kerî	'spotted'	ol-kerî	'leopard'
	'conspicuously spotted with at least two colors'	'to spot the body with chalk / ochre'	tárá	'spotted & colorful'	en-tárâ	'viper'
DERIVED COLOR +DESIGN TERMS			márà	'dotted, checkered, involving at least red, black, or brown; spots the size of a cheetah's'	ol-márà	'cheetah'
			túntáí	'alternate black & white'	en-túntáí	'oval black or white beads for necklace fringe'
	a-srá	a-sr	yyáí	'black & white'	o-yyáí	'porcupine'
	'striped, painted'	'to mark'	abólì	'brown with large dark-brown'	ol-abólì	'fig tree'
			rr	'red top, white bottom'	o-rr	'termite'
			leléo	'with large circular patches'	o-leléo	'broken gourd'

Cognitively, some of the color terms are more "basic" than others, while other terms are considered to be more finely-specified subtypes of the basic terms (cf. Berlin and Kay 1969, 1975).  Table 3 gives a grouping done by Vincent Konchellah, who referrs to each of the terms in bold as a "mother".  Note that only the term for 'green' stands alone with no sub-terms.  The same task was done by a distinct group of four Central Maa speakers working together.  The Central Maa group placed 'to be blood red' as a sub-type of a-nyokíé . They also treated irô and múgíé as distinct from the 'black category', each having several sub-terms.  (For the most part they also did not include color-plus-design terms in the sorting task.)
 
 

"MOTHER" TERMS	GLOSS OF "MOTHER" TERM	SUBORDINATE SUBTYPES
p s	'blue'	arûs      'spotted black and white' sagáràràmì   'purple' kií        'blue'
sí k í t ô î	'yellow'	síntêt   'pink, yellow; gray' túlélèì   'yellow'
a - r k (i\includes mixtures that were said to have a “basis in black”.  Upon querrying, the speaker said he did not want to make any more  “mothers” within this group.)	'to be black'	kúkúó    'gray' spíà    'dark' múgíé    'warm brown' dr  'gray' pukótì    'black-white blend' keshúroi   'mixture' sérò      'brush gray' sámpù   'striped tan & white' irô      'gray-brown' tárá       'spotted' owuarú  'gray; reddish; camouflage'
a - d   (Upon querrying, the speaker said this could be placed under  a-nyokíé, but he preferred to make it it’s “own” mother.)	'to be blood-red'	pl  'light red-based'
a - n y o k í é	'to be red'	l rá 'golden brown' barrikóì  'tan, light yellow-brown' rr    'red & white' moríjoi   'deep-red, maroon' abólì 'brownish shade'
a-br	'to be white'	ókúrúóí  'ash white' sírùà     'could-white, nearing gray' (this could also occur under a-nyokíé) a-srá 'to be striped'
a - n y  r	'to be green'
k ú r r ú k ú r	'mixture of colors'	wúâs     'patchy' márà     'patchy' kerî       'spotted' (esp. black & white) leléo      'large circular spots' (esp brown) súyaán  'gray'

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