Triumphant Honed Mulberry

Latin triumphāns, celebrating victory — present-participle of triumphāre. As a color modifier, triumphant implies a saturated-and-celebratory-and-victorious quality, the deep-rich color of Roman-Imperial-period triumphal-arch spolia relief and Arch-of-Titus victory imagery. Sits at the bold-and-celebratory end of the grid, parallel to victorious and conquering.

Old English hǣnan, to-sharpen. As a color modifier, honed implies a sharp-edged-and-polished quality, the visual register of Sheffield-and-Solingen-honed-blade hand-honed-and-sharpened-and-polished steel-and-iron-and-bronze Sheffield-and-Solingen-honed-blade surfaces under Sheffield-and-Solingen hand-honed-and-sharpened-blade workshop-light. Sits at the modifier-and-texture end of the grid, parallel to buffed and gloss in usage.

The genus Morus — the white mulberry (M. alba) feeds silkworms; the black mulberry (M. nigra) bears the deep purple fruit that stains everything it touches. The color refers to a ripe black mulberry: a saturated, slightly red-shifted very deep purple with the slight juiciness of a compound fruit. Cooler than wine, warmer than indigo, with the agricultural weight of a tree that supported the entire Chinese silk industry for two thousand years.