Hypochloromelas, erythrochloros, ochroleukos: i composti formati con due aggettivi di colore in Ippocrate.

Compounds with two colour adjectives began to be used with some regularity in the writings of the Corpus Hippocraticum. Their use became increasingly common in other technical areas (physiognomics, botany, alchemy, astrology), to signal important differences and trends, according to the complex and detailed methods of distinction and classification, which constituted the hallmark of the single technai. How to interpret their meaning in various contexts is controversial, as evidenced by the wide debate on their place within the Greek compound system, and by a vast bibliography on the subject. In Antiquity, Galen, in his comment to Hippocrates, understands and explains the use of such compounds, in which both the lexemes are colour adjectives, relating to the concept of mixing and combination, and to the need to describe composite reality and complex physical facts, carefully analysed in their constituents.