Devout Cloak Crimson

From the Latin devotus, consecrated — used principally in religious contexts for the dignified deep colors of sacred art and ecclesiastical dress. As a color modifier, devout implies saturation combined with restraint: the deep blues of Marian mantles, the deep reds of cardinals' robes. Sits in the bold-and-formal corner alongside imperial.

Old Northern French cloque, bell-or-cape. As a color modifier, cloak implies a heavy-shoulder-mantle-and-bell-shaped quality, the visual register of Anglo-Saxon-and-medieval-cloak hand-heavy-shoulder-mantle-and-bell-shaped Anglo-Saxon-and-medieval-cloak-and-pilgrim-cloak cloak-and-heavy-shoulder-mantle surfaces under Anglo-Saxon-and-medieval-cloak-and-pilgrim-cloak Canterbury-and-Compostela-pilgrimage wool-cloak-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to cape and cowl 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.