Bold Scot violet

Old English beald, brave, courageous — a quality word that crossed over to color in the late seventeenth century. Bold describes a color that asserts itself: high saturation combined with mid lightness, where the hue presents itself without compromise. Sits at the center of the bold-bucket grid, near strong and rich. Closer to a presence word than a pigment word.

Old English Scotti, of-Scotland. As a color modifier, scot implies a Highland-and-tartan quality, the visual register of Scottish-Highland-and-Lowland hand-woven tartan-and-wool-and-tweed peat-and-heather-and-stone surfaces under Scottish-Highland-and-Lowland tartan-and-tweed Highland-pasture light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to welsh and irish in usage.

Viola odorata, the European sweet violet — small, fragrant, and the original meaning of the color name in English (the Violet of the rainbow). The color refers to a fresh sweet violet blossom in late winter: a saturated, slightly red-shifted deep blue-purple with the matte finish of small five-petaled flower. Cooler than amethyst, warmer than indigo, with the perfumed weight of a flower used in Roman garlands and Victorian eau de toilette.