Velvety Nymph Royal

An adjectival form of velvet, used since the eighteenth century for colors that read as if they had the matte light-absorbing quality of velvet. Implies high saturation combined with a non-glossy surface — the matte richness of a deep wine in a fabric rather than in a glass. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner of the grid alongside plush and lush.

Greek νύμφη, nature-spirit-and-young-bride. As a color modifier, nymph implies a nature-spirit-and-grove-and-spring quality, the visual register of Hellenic-nymph-and-grove-and-spring hand-nature-spirit-and-grove-and-spring Hellenic-nymph-and-grove-and-spring-and-Arcadian-pastoral nymph-and-nature-spirit-and-grove surfaces under Hellenic-nymph-and-grove-and-spring-and-Arcadian-pastoral Mediterranean-grove-and-stream dappled-grove-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to dryad and nereid 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.