Why do different languages divide the color spectrum into different named categories?

Different languages divide the color spectrum into named categories because they impose structure upon the psychophysical continuum of color rather than labeling pre-existing, distinct natural categories.1

In structural semantics, the meaning of a color term is defined by its position within a lexical field relative to other terms in that system. Because languages draw boundaries at different places along this continuum, the number and range of basic color terms vary significantly between cultures.1

While some structuralists once argued these divisions were entirely arbitrary, modern research suggests a more nuanced view. It is possible that human perception is influenced by both cultural learning and universal physiological or psychological constraints. Some theories propose that there is a limited, hierarchically ordered set of universal color categories from which languages make selections, with fixed "focal" points for typical instances of those colors. Consequently, while each language maintains a unique semantic structure, these structures are often built upon a shared substructure of universal distinctions.1