Starched Lovage Verdigris

Old English stercan, to stiffen — past-participle of starch. As a color modifier, starched implies a clear-and-stiff-and-formal quality, the crisp color of Edwardian-period formal-evening-shirt-and-collar starched-and-pressed dress-attire. Sits at the crisp-and-finished end of the grid, parallel to pressed and ironed in usage.

Latin levisticum, medieval-physic-garden-herb. As a color modifier, lovage implies a medieval-physic-garden-and-celery-leaf quality, the visual register of medieval-physic-garden-and-Cluniac-lovage hand-medieval-physic-garden-and-celery-leaf medieval-physic-garden-and-Cluniac-lovage-and-Benedictine-Saint-Gall lovage-and-medieval-physic-garden-and-celery-leaf surfaces under medieval-physic-garden-and-Cluniac-lovage-and-Benedictine-Saint-Gall Cluny-and-Saint-Gall-physic-garden medieval-monastic-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to savory and catnip in usage.

The basic copper carbonate that forms on weathered copper and bronze — the pigment scraped from oxidized metal and used in Renaissance painting before being supplanted by more stable greens. The color refers to a thick verdigris on aged copper roofing or the Statue of Liberty's surface: a soft, slightly muted blue-green with the powdery finish of mineral oxide. Cooler than patina, warmer than seafoam, with the archaeological weight of a mineral made by time.