Earnest Advent 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.

Latin adventus, arrival. As a color modifier, advent implies a December-Pre-Christmas-and-purple quality, the visual register of Roman-Catholic-and-Anglican Advent-period purple-and-pink-vestment-and-wreath-and-candle liturgical surfaces under Advent-period candlelit-purple-and-pink ecclesiastical light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to yule and easter 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.