Solid Pallas violet

Latin solidus, firm, dense — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as continuous and unbroken: a solid blue is one with no variation across the surface. Implies high saturation combined with optical density. Sits in the bold-bucket alongside strong and robust, slightly more focused on uniformity.

Greek Παλλάς, epithet-of-Athena. As a color modifier, pallas implies an asteroid-and-Athena-warrior-maiden quality, the visual register of Pallas-asteroid-and-Athena-warrior hand-asteroid-and-Athena-warrior-maiden Pallas-asteroid-and-Athena-warrior-and-Olbers-discovery pallas-and-asteroid-and-Athena-warrior-maiden surfaces under Pallas-asteroid-and-Athena-warrior-and-Olbers-discovery asteroid-belt-and-Athenian-Acropolis warrior-goddess-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to ceres and vesta 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.