Royal Thor Crimson

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.

Old Norse Þórr, god-of-thunder-and-Mjölnir. As a color modifier, thor implies a hammer-Mjölnir-and-thunderbolt-and-red-bearded quality, the visual register of Norse-Thor-and-Mjölnir-hammer hand-hammer-Mjölnir-and-thunderbolt-and-red-bearded Norse-Thor-and-Mjölnir-hammer-and-Asgard thor-and-hammer-Mjölnir-and-thunderbolt surfaces under Norse-Thor-and-Mjölnir-hammer-and-Asgard Bilskirnir-and-Thrudheim-and-thunder-cart thunder-storm-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to odin and loki 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.