Buttressed Blaze Crimson

Old French bouterez, thrusting-mass — past-participle of buttress, derived from bouter (to thrust). As a color modifier, buttressed implies a saturated-and-architecturally-supported quality, the deep-rich color of Gothic-Cathedral flying-buttress-and-rib-vault stone-architecture. Sits at the bold-and-fortified end of the grid, parallel to fortified and reinforced.

Old English blæse, torch-or-flame. As a color modifier, blaze implies a roaring-and-bright-and-spreading-flame quality, the visual register of bonfire-and-Yule-log-blaze hand-roaring-and-bright-and-spreading-flame bonfire-and-Yule-log-and-hearth-fire blazed-and-roaring-and-bright-and-spreading surfaces under bonfire-and-Yule-log-and-hearth-fire roaring-and-bright-and-spreading midwinter-and-bonfire-night-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to flare and spark 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.