Spartan Plot Crimson

Greek Spartiátēs, of Sparta — adjectival suffix referring to the Lacedaemonian warrior city. As a color modifier, spartan implies a saturated-and-disciplined-and-formal quality, the deep-rich color of Spartan-hoplite military-class crimson-and-bronze armor-and-cloak. Sits at the bold-and-formal end of the grid, parallel to austere and stern in tone.

Old English plot, small-piece-of-ground. As a color modifier, plot implies a tilled-garden-bed quality, the visual register of English-cottage-garden-and-allotment hand-tilled-and-cultivated small market-garden vegetable-bed surfaces under English-cottage-garden-and-allotment summer-tilling light. Sits at the modifier-and-place end of the grid, parallel to yard and garden 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.