Lavish Comet Crimson

Old French lavasse, downpour — sharing root with laver (to wash). As a color modifier, lavish implies a saturated-and-extravagant quality where the hue spills over its visual boundaries with luxurious pigmentation. Sits at the bold-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to opulent and sumptuous in usage.

Greek κομήτης, long-haired-or-tailed-star. As a color modifier, comet implies an icy-and-tailed-and-streaked quality, the visual register of Halley-and-Hale-Bopp-comet hand-icy-and-tailed-and-streaked Halley-and-Hale-Bopp-and-Encke-comet comet-and-icy-and-tailed-and-streaked surfaces under Halley-and-Hale-Bopp-and-Encke-comet sun-grazing-and-coma-and-ion-tail outer-system-arc-light. Sits at the modifier-and-cosmic end of the grid, parallel to meteor and nebula 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.