Stately Senex Crimson

An adjectival form of state, condition of dignity. Used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for the deep saturated jewel tones of formal ceremony — the deep blue of a robes-of-state, the deep red of a state-banquet velvet. Sits in the bold-and-formal corner alongside imperial and royal, with slightly less institutional weight.

Latin senex, old-man-or-elder. As a color modifier, senex implies a Latin-elder-and-Roman-Senate-elder quality, the visual register of Cicero-Cato-the-Elder-senex hand-Latin-elder-and-Roman-Senate-elder Cicero-Cato-the-Elder-senex-and-De-Senectute senex-and-Latin-elder-and-Roman-Senate-elder surfaces under Cicero-Cato-the-Elder-senex-and-De-Senectute Roman-Senate-and-villa-retreat venerable-elder-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to pater and virtus 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.