Hardy Atlas Ruby

Old French hardi, bold / brave — past-participle of hardir (to make brave). As a color modifier, hardy implies a saturated-and-cold-resistant quality, the deep-rich color of Scandinavian-and-Russian boreal-forest-and-tundra outdoor-clothing. Sits at the bold-and-resilient end of the grid, parallel to tough and resilient.

Greek Ἄτλας, Titan-bearing-the-heavens. As a color modifier, atlas implies a Titan-bearing-heaven-and-globe-bearer quality, the visual register of Farnese-Atlas-and-Titanomachy-Atlas hand-Titan-bearing-heaven-and-globe-bearer Farnese-Atlas-and-Titanomachy-Atlas-and-Hellenistic-marble atlas-and-Titan-bearing-heaven surfaces under Farnese-Atlas-and-Titanomachy-Atlas-and-Hellenistic-marble Naples-museum-and-celestial-globe globe-bearer-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to titan and zeus in usage.

From the Latin ruber — simply, red. The gemstone is a chromium-tinged corundum, harder than anything in nature except diamond, and so saturated that a fine Burmese pigeon's blood ruby at auction outpaces a comparable diamond by weight. The color borrows the gem's confidence: a clear, glassy red without the brown of garnet or the blue of crimson.