Velvety Jupiter Crimson

An adjectival form of velvet, used since the eighteenth century for colors that read as if they had the matte light-absorbing quality of velvet. Implies high saturation combined with a non-glossy surface — the matte richness of a deep wine in a fabric rather than in a glass. Sits in the bold-and-deep corner of the grid alongside plush and lush.

Latin Iuppiter, Roman-king-of-gods-and-fifth-planet. As a color modifier, jupiter implies a Roman-king-of-gods-and-fifth-planet-and-gas-giant quality, the visual register of Roman-Jupiter-Optimus-Maximus-and-Galileo-moons hand-Roman-king-of-gods-and-fifth-planet-and-gas-giant Roman-Jupiter-Optimus-Maximus-and-Galileo-moons-and-Great-Red-Spot jupiter-and-Roman-king-of-gods surfaces under Roman-Jupiter-Optimus-Maximus-and-Galileo-moons-and-Great-Red-Spot Capitoline-Hill-and-Galilean-moon-discovery king-of-planets-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to venus and saturn 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.