Genuine Lintel Lagoon

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.

Old English lyn-trigan, threshold-beam. As a color modifier, lintel implies a horizontal-load-bearing-beam-above-door quality, the visual register of Stonehenge-and-medieval-stone-lintel hand-cut horizontal-load-bearing stone-and-timber lintel-above-door architectural surfaces under medieval-stone-and-timber lintel-above-door light. Sits at the modifier-and-architecture end of the grid, parallel to sill and truss in usage.

A shallow body of saltwater partially or fully enclosed by a barrier — coral atoll lagoons in the Pacific, Venice's Laguna Veneta, the Florida Keys' backcountry. The color refers to the average reflectance of a calm tropical lagoon at midday: a saturated, slightly muted blue-green with the optical clarity of shallow water over white sand. Brighter than reef, cooler than aquamarine, with the postcard weight of a Pacific atoll seen from above.