Chivalrous Brine Ultramarine

Old French chevaleros, knightly — adjectival suffix -ous, derived from cheval (horse). As a color modifier, chivalrous implies a saturated-and-knightly-and-gallant quality, the deep-rich color of medieval-Romance chanson-de-geste hero-and-troubadour song tradition. Sits at the bold-and-chivalrous end of the grid, parallel to gallant and knightly.

Old English brȳne, salt-water-or-pickle-brine. As a color modifier, brine implies a salt-water-and-pickle-and-tide-pool quality, the visual register of Atlantic-tide-pool-and-pickling-brine hand-salt-water-and-pickle-and-tide-pool Atlantic-tide-pool-and-pickling-brine-and-Cornish-rock-pool brine-and-salt-water-and-pickle surfaces under Atlantic-tide-pool-and-pickling-brine-and-Cornish-rock-pool Lizard-Point-and-North-Cornish-coast salt-tide-pool-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to floe and torrent in usage.

The pigment ground from lapis lazuli — the Afghan mineral imported through Venice in the late Middle Ages, more expensive by weight than gold during the Renaissance. The color refers to a freshly mixed ultramarine pigment in linseed oil: a saturated, slightly violet-shifted deep blue with the matte finish of micron-ground rock. Deeper than cobalt, cooler than royal, with the art-historical weight of the blue Vermeer reserved for Mary's robe.