The connotative meanings of color terms occurring as independent lexemes or in phraseologisms in 17th- and 18th-century Croatian literature and dictionaries are examined and the high degree of overlap with color-based phraseology in contemporary Croatian is noted. The analysis focuses on the opposition 'white'-'black', in which the former symbolizes virtue, goodness, and beauty and the latter represents vice, ugliness, and evil. The metaphorical meanings of some syntagms consisting of a noun preceded by a color term in an attributive function ('crno zlato' (black gold, i.e., oil)) are examined and an explanation is given for the curious opposition 'bijelo vino' (white wine) vs. 'crno vino' (black wine, i.e., red wine). (Copyright 1996, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (Z. Dubiel in LLBA 1996, vol. 30, n. 4)