Earnest Ventus Royal

Old English eornost, seriousness, zeal. Used as a color modifier since the nineteenth century for hues that read as committed but unshowy — the working blues of denim, the deep greens of Quaker meetinghouses. Sits in the bold-and-quiet corner of the grid, slightly less luminous than resolute and slightly less institutional than imperial.

Latin ventus, wind. As a color modifier, ventus implies a Latin-wind-and-Roman-Aeolus-wind quality, the visual register of Roman-Aeolus-and-Anemoi-ventus hand-Latin-wind-and-Roman-Aeolus-wind Roman-Aeolus-and-Anemoi-ventus-and-Boreas-Notus-Eurus-Zephyrus ventus-and-Latin-wind surfaces under Roman-Aeolus-and-Anemoi-ventus-and-Boreas-Notus-Eurus-Zephyrus Aeolian-and-Vergilian-pastoral Roman-wind-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to ignis and unda 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.