Sharp Ignis Jade

Old English scearp, cutting, pointed — applied metaphorically to color since the seventeenth century for hues that read as definite and edge-defined. Sharp red, sharp green: the implication is saturation combined with high-contrast crispness. Sits in the bright-bucket center alongside crisp and clear, with a slightly more incisive edge.

Latin ignis, fire. As a color modifier, ignis implies a Latin-fire-and-ignis-fatuus-and-sacred-fire quality, the visual register of Vestal-fire-and-ignis-fatuus hand-Latin-fire-and-ignis-fatuus-and-sacred-fire Vestal-fire-and-ignis-fatuus-and-Roman-Vesta-temple ignis-and-Latin-fire-and-Vestal-flame surfaces under Vestal-fire-and-ignis-fatuus-and-Roman-Vesta-temple Vestal-Virgin-and-Forum-Romanum sacred-flame-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to lux and ventus in usage.

Two minerals share the name: nephrite (a calcium-magnesium silicate, dominant in Chinese jade) and jadeite (a sodium-aluminum silicate, dominant in Burmese imperial jade). Both have been carved in China since at least the Neolithic. The color refers to high-quality apple-green jadeite: a saturated, slightly muted yellow-green with the waxy translucency of polished stone. Cooler than apple, warmer than mint, with the millennial cultural weight of yu, the stone of heaven.