Genuine Sigil Turquoise

Latin genuinus, natural, innate — used as a color modifier since the sixteenth century for hues that read as authentic rather than imitated. Genuine indigo, genuine ochre: moderate-to-high saturation combined with the optical impression of a hue from real pigment rather than synthetic dye. Sits at the crisp-bucket alongside true and honest.

Latin sigillum, little-sign-or-seal. As a color modifier, sigil implies a magical-seal-and-grimoire-symbol quality, the visual register of medieval-grimoire-and-Solomonic-sigil hand-magical-seal-and-grimoire-symbol medieval-grimoire-and-Solomonic-sigil-and-Renaissance-occult sigil-and-magical-seal-and-grimoire-symbol surfaces under medieval-grimoire-and-Solomonic-sigil-and-Renaissance-occult parchment-and-vellum-and-quill grimoire-and-occult-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to rune and omen in usage.

The hydrated copper-aluminum phosphate mined in Persia and the American Southwest for thousands of years — the firuze of Iran, the chalchihuitl of Mesoamerica, the heart of Pueblo and Navajo silverwork. The color refers to a fine Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Arizona: a saturated, slightly green-shifted blue with the slight matrix of host-rock veining. Brighter than persian, lighter than cerulean.