Stately Jupiter 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 Iuppiter, Roman-king-of-gods-and-fifth-planet. As a color modifier, jupiter implies a Roman-king-of-gods-and-fifth-planet-and-gas-giant quality, the visual register of Roman-Jupiter-Optimus-Maximus-and-Galileo-moons hand-Roman-king-of-gods-and-fifth-planet-and-gas-giant Roman-Jupiter-Optimus-Maximus-and-Galileo-moons-and-Great-Red-Spot jupiter-and-Roman-king-of-gods surfaces under Roman-Jupiter-Optimus-Maximus-and-Galileo-moons-and-Great-Red-Spot Capitoline-Hill-and-Galilean-moon-discovery king-of-planets-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to venus and saturn 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.