Knightly Faun Cardinal

Old English cniht, young man / knight — adjectival suffix -ly. As a color modifier, knightly implies a saturated-and-chivalrous-and-medieval quality, the deep-rich color of medieval-English-and-French knight-and-squire armorial-bearings-and-livery tradition. Sits at the bold-and-chivalrous end of the grid, parallel to gallant and cavalier.

Latin Faunus, Roman-half-goat-rural-deity. As a color modifier, faun implies a half-goat-and-pastoral-and-Arcadian quality, the visual register of Roman-Faunus-and-Arcadian-pastoral-faun hand-half-goat-and-pastoral-and-Arcadian Roman-Faunus-and-Arcadian-pastoral-faun-and-Pan faun-and-half-goat-and-pastoral-and-Arcadian surfaces under Roman-Faunus-and-Arcadian-pastoral-faun-and-Pan Lupercalia-and-Arcadia-and-pipes-of-Pan pastoral-Arcadian-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to satyr and dryad in usage.

Named for the scarlet robes of Roman Catholic cardinals, dyed since the thirteenth century with kermes and later cochineal. The color carries the institutional weight of its source — a saturated red-orange that reads as authority rather than romance. Also the bird (Cardinalis cardinalis) of the American east, whose plumage takes its red from carotenoid pigments in the seeds it eats.