Princely Ceres Cardinal

Latin prīnceps, first / chief — adjectival suffix -ly. As a color modifier, princely implies a saturated-and-royal-secondary quality, the deep-rich color of European crown-prince coronet-and-livery vestment. Sits at the bold-and-aristocratic end of the grid, parallel to lordly and regal in usage.

Latin Ceres, Roman-goddess-of-grain. As a color modifier, ceres implies a dwarf-planet-and-asteroid-belt-and-grain-goddess quality, the visual register of Ceres-dwarf-planet-and-asteroid-belt hand-dwarf-planet-and-asteroid-belt-and-grain-goddess Ceres-dwarf-planet-and-asteroid-belt-and-Dawn-mission ceres-and-dwarf-planet-and-asteroid-belt surfaces under Ceres-dwarf-planet-and-asteroid-belt-and-Dawn-mission inner-asteroid-belt-and-Occator-crater dwarf-planet-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to vesta and pallas 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.