Earnest Bliss violet

Old English eornost, seriousness, zeal. Used as a color modifier since the nineteenth century for hues that read as committed but unshowy — the working blues of denim, the deep greens of Quaker meetinghouses. Sits in the bold-and-quiet corner of the grid, slightly less luminous than resolute and slightly less institutional than imperial.

Old English blīths, joy-or-delight. As a color modifier, bliss implies a deep-joy-and-rapture-and-contentment quality, the visual register of Beatific-Vision-and-Elysian-Field-bliss hand-deep-joy-and-rapture-and-contentment Beatific-Vision-and-Elysian-Field-and-paradise-meadow blissed-and-deep-joy-and-rapture surfaces under Beatific-Vision-and-Elysian-Field-and-paradise-meadow heavenly-and-rapturous-and-blessed paradise-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to joy and mirth 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.