Is it true that the colour blue used to be called green before the great leap forwards?

Question

my old grandad used to argue this point in the pub, he was a very clever man.

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

Well, according to QI, the Ancient Greeks had no word for blue and so the sky was referred to as green.

I could be wrong there as I was quite drunk when I saw that on telly.

Still, I'll wager your grandad was right and that he was a very clever man (as he probably got that fact from learning rather than from an amusing telly programme, like I did.)

Answer 3

sure.