Rugged Yard Royal

Old Norse rugga, rough / coarse — adjectival suffix -ed. As a color modifier, rugged implies a saturated-and-rough-and-weathered quality, the deep-rich color of Scottish-Highlands-and-Norwegian-fjord outdoor-and-mountain landscape. Sits at the bold-and-weathered end of the grid, parallel to tough and sinewy in usage.

Old English geard, enclosed-space. As a color modifier, yard implies a working-courtyard quality, the visual register of farmyard-and-shipyard hand-built stone-and-cobbled enclosed-and-fenced working-and-livestock surfaces under English-rural farmyard-and-shipyard working-day light. Sits at the modifier-and-place end of the grid, parallel to court and plot in usage.

The blue of European royal court dress and regalia from the late seventeenth century forward — the color of British peers' robes, French royal sashes, the lining of the crown-jewel cases. The color refers to a saturated, slightly violet-shifted blue with the matte finish of velvet or melton wool dyed to maximum intensity: deeper than cornflower, warmer than ultramarine, with the heraldic weight of a color reserved for monarchs and the official Crown.