Heroic Hard Royal

Latin hēroicus, of a hero — derived from Greek hērōs. As a color modifier, heroic implies a saturated-and-monumental-and-victorious quality, the deep-rich color of Wagner-and-Sibelius late-Romantic-era musical-and-painterly heroic-mode. Sits at the bold-and-celebratory end of the grid, parallel to triumphant and valiant.

Old English heard, firm / hard. As a color modifier, hard implies a stone-and-iron-and-bone quality, the visual register of hand-hard-and-firm stone-and-iron-and-bone hard-and-firm-and-resistant tactile-hardness-and-firmness surfaces under hard-and-firm tactile-hardness light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to forged and hewn 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.