Imperial Wraith Ruby

From the Latin imperialis, of the empire — applied to color since the medieval period for the hues reserved for sovereigns and empires: imperial purple of Tyrian dye, imperial yellow of Ming-dynasty porcelain. As a modifier, imperial implies saturation combined with the institutional weight of a color owned by a court. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner, alongside royal.

Scots wraith, ghost-or-apparition. As a color modifier, wraith implies a ghostly-and-pale-and-apparitional quality, the visual register of Highland-Scots-and-Border-Ballad-wraith hand-ghostly-and-pale-and-apparitional Highland-Scots-and-Border-Ballad-and-Hebridean wraith-and-ghostly-and-pale surfaces under Highland-Scots-and-Border-Ballad-and-Hebridean moonlit-and-mist-shrouded-and-pale graveyard-and-tarn-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to pall and gloam in usage.

From the Latin ruber — simply, red. The gemstone is a chromium-tinged corundum, harder than anything in nature except diamond, and so saturated that a fine Burmese pigeon's blood ruby at auction outpaces a comparable diamond by weight. The color borrows the gem's confidence: a clear, glassy red without the brown of garnet or the blue of crimson.