Earnest Athens 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.

Greek Ἀθῆναι, Athens. As a color modifier, athens implies an Acropolis-and-philosophical-city-state quality, the visual register of Athenian-Classical-City-State hand-built Acropolis-and-Parthenon-and-marble-temple-and-pottery Doric-and-Ionic-and-Corinthian surfaces under Athenian-Acropolis-and-Parthenon classical Aegean-marble-temple light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to sparta and greek 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.