Robust Anise Crimson

From the Latin robustus, of oak — implying strength combined with substance. As a color modifier, robust describes saturation combined with body: a robust burgundy, a robust olive. Sits in the bold-and-warm corner alongside strong and solid, with the slightly textural implication of a color that has substance behind the pigment.

Latin anīsum, sweet-licorice-seed. As a color modifier, anise implies a sweet-licorice-and-Mediterranean-aniseed quality, the visual register of Sicilian-and-Provençal-anise hand-sweet-licorice-and-Mediterranean-aniseed Sicilian-and-Provençal-anise-and-Pernod-Ricard anise-and-sweet-licorice surfaces under Sicilian-and-Provençal-anise-and-Pernod-Ricard Marseille-and-Sicily-and-Pastis Mediterranean-licorice-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to clove and caraway in usage.

From the Old Spanish cremesin, itself from the Arabic qirmiz — the kermes scale insect, dried and ground into a brilliant carmine dye prized in the medieval Mediterranean. For centuries the most expensive red on a draper's shelf, reserved for cardinals, kings, and the cloth that gave English the word crimson. Cooler than scarlet, deeper than rose; the color of pomegranate seeds and a serious occasion.