Velvety Odin 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.

Old Norse Óðinn, all-father-of-the-Aesir. As a color modifier, odin implies a one-eyed-and-raven-and-runic-wisdom quality, the visual register of Norse-all-father-Odin-and-Yggdrasil hand-one-eyed-and-raven-and-runic-wisdom Norse-all-father-Odin-and-Yggdrasil-and-Asgard odin-and-one-eyed-and-raven-and-runic-wisdom surfaces under Norse-all-father-Odin-and-Yggdrasil-and-Asgard Hugin-and-Munin-raven-and-Mimir-well runic-wisdom-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to thor and freya 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.