Scorching Squire Turquoise

Old English scorcnian, to dry up — present-participle of scorch. As a color modifier, scorching implies a saturated-and-burning-hot quality, the bright color of Mojave-Desert-and-Death-Valley mid-afternoon high-temperature surface-emission. Sits at the bright-and-warm end of the grid, parallel to searing and sizzling in usage.

Old French escuyer, shield-bearer. As a color modifier, squire implies a knight's-attendant-and-page-of-arms quality, the visual register of English-and-French-Squire hand-forged shield-and-stirrup-and-tabard knight's-attendant-and-page-of-arms surfaces under English-and-French-Squire hand-forged shield-and-stirrup ceremonial-court light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to knight and page 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.