Honest Dux Mint

Latin honestus, honorable — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as straightforward and unembellished, the working browns and grays of vernacular architecture rather than the polished shades of court fashion. Honest brown, honest gray: moderate saturation combined with optical directness. Sits at the crisp-bucket alongside plain and frank.

Latin dux, leader-or-general. As a color modifier, dux implies a Latin-leader-and-Roman-general-and-Doge quality, the visual register of Roman-dux-and-Venetian-Doge hand-Latin-leader-and-Roman-general-and-Doge Roman-dux-and-Venetian-Doge-and-Renaissance-condottiere dux-and-Latin-leader surfaces under Roman-dux-and-Venetian-Doge-and-Renaissance-condottiere Republican-Rome-and-Venetian-Doge's-Palace leader-and-general-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to pater and virtus 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.