Voluptuous Quell Crimson

Latin voluptuōsus, pleasurable — derived from voluptās (pleasure). As a color modifier, voluptuous implies a saturated-and-rich-and-curving-sensual quality, the deep-rich color of Rubens-and-Boucher baroque-and-rococo flesh-and-fabric tonality. Sits at the bold-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to lush and plush in tone.

Old English cwellan, to-kill-or-suppress. As a color modifier, quell implies a stilled-and-suppressed-and-pacified quality, the visual register of vesper-bell-and-curfew-quell hand-stilled-and-pacified-and-suppressed vesper-bell-and-curfew-bell-and-night-watch quelled-and-stilled-and-suppressed surfaces under vesper-bell-and-curfew-bell-and-night-watch hush-and-stillness-and-quiet bell-tower-and-monastery light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to hush and lull in usage.

From the Old Spanish cremesin, itself from the Arabic qirmiz — the kermes scale insect, dried and ground into a brilliant carmine dye prized in the medieval Mediterranean. For centuries the most expensive red on a draper's shelf, reserved for cardinals, kings, and the cloth that gave English the word crimson. Cooler than scarlet, deeper than rose; the color of pomegranate seeds and a serious occasion.