Stately Ergo 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 ergo, therefore-or-thus. As a color modifier, ergo implies a Latin-logical-and-cogito-ergo-sum quality, the visual register of Cartesian-cogito-ergo-sum hand-Latin-logical-and-cogito-ergo-sum Cartesian-cogito-ergo-sum-and-Scholastic-syllogism ergo-and-Latin-logical-and-cogito-ergo-sum surfaces under Cartesian-cogito-ergo-sum-and-Scholastic-syllogism Sorbonne-Scholastic-and-Cartesian-meditation logical-deduction-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to ipse and opus 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.