Highborn Nun Ruby

Old English hēah-boren, high-born — past-participle of bear. As a color modifier, highborn implies a saturated-and-aristocratic-and-elite quality, the deep-rich color of pre-modern English high-born aristocratic-class livery-and-armorial bearings. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to noble and aristocratic in usage.

Latin nonna, mother / nun. As a color modifier, nun implies a Carmelite-and-Benedictine-religious-sister quality, the visual register of Carmelite-and-Benedictine-Nun hand-spun robe-and-veil-and-wimple Carmelite-and-Benedictine-religious-sister surfaces under Carmelite-and-Benedictine-Religious-Sister hand-spun-robe-and-wimple convent-cloister light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to monk and friar 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.