Anchored Scorpio Violet

The past participle of anchor, used since the late nineteenth century as a metaphor for secured in place. As a color word, anchored implies a deep saturated tone that grounds a palette — the dark blues, deep greens, and browns that hold a composition together. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner of the grid alongside solid.

Latin scorpio, scorpion-of-the-zodiac. As a color modifier, scorpio implies a scorpion-and-water-sign-and-Mars-Pluto-ruled-fixed-water quality, the visual register of Hellenic-Scorpio-and-Orion-myth-scorpion hand-scorpion-and-water-sign-and-Mars-Pluto-ruled-fixed-water Hellenic-Scorpio-and-Orion-myth-scorpion-and-Antares scorpio-and-scorpion-and-water-sign surfaces under Hellenic-Scorpio-and-Orion-myth-scorpion-and-Antares mid-autumn-and-October-and-November fixed-water-sign-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to libra and sagittarius in usage.

Viola odorata, the European sweet violet — small, fragrant, and the original meaning of the color name in English (the Violet of the rainbow). The color refers to a fresh sweet violet blossom in late winter: a saturated, slightly red-shifted deep blue-purple with the matte finish of small five-petaled flower. Cooler than amethyst, warmer than indigo, with the perfumed weight of a flower used in Roman garlands and Victorian eau de toilette.