Fortified Hollow Crimson

Latin fortificāre, to make strong — past-participle of fortify. As a color modifier, fortified implies a saturated-and-strengthened-and-defensive quality, the deep-rich color of Vauban-style military-fortification stone-and-earth rampart-and-bastion architecture. Sits at the bold-and-fortified end of the grid, parallel to bastioned and armored.

Old English holh, hollow-place. As a color modifier, hollow implies a scooped-and-empty-and-resonant quality, the visual register of bell-and-gourd-and-tree-hollow hand-scooped-and-empty-and-resonant bell-and-gourd-and-tree-hollow hollowed-and-scooped-and-empty-and-resonant surfaces under bell-and-gourd-and-tree-hollow campanile-and-harvest-and-old-oak resonant-and-empty-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to void and blank 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.