Genuine Set Mint

Latin genuinus, natural, innate — used as a color modifier since the sixteenth century for hues that read as authentic rather than imitated. Genuine indigo, genuine ochre: moderate-to-high saturation combined with the optical impression of a hue from real pigment rather than synthetic dye. Sits at the crisp-bucket alongside true and honest.

Old English settan, to put-down. As a color modifier, set implies a sunset-and-descending quality, the visual register of clear-sky western-horizon sunset-and-moonset descending-celestial-body atmospheric Rayleigh-scattered Belt-of-Venus orange-and-violet surfaces under descending-horizon-and-sunset light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to rise and eve in usage.

The genus Mentha — peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, water mint — the cooling herb whose menthol gives it that quality at the molecular level. The color refers to fresh peppermint leaves before drying: a clean, slightly cool green with the matte finish of trichome-rich leaf surface. Lighter than basil, cooler than parsley, with the mojito-and-Pimm's association of a herb tied to summer drinks across two continents.