Earnest Ignis Ruby

Old English eornost, seriousness, zeal. Used as a color modifier since the nineteenth century for hues that read as committed but unshowy — the working blues of denim, the deep greens of Quaker meetinghouses. Sits in the bold-and-quiet corner of the grid, slightly less luminous than resolute and slightly less institutional than imperial.

Latin ignis, fire. As a color modifier, ignis implies a Latin-fire-and-ignis-fatuus-and-sacred-fire quality, the visual register of Vestal-fire-and-ignis-fatuus hand-Latin-fire-and-ignis-fatuus-and-sacred-fire Vestal-fire-and-ignis-fatuus-and-Roman-Vesta-temple ignis-and-Latin-fire-and-Vestal-flame surfaces under Vestal-fire-and-ignis-fatuus-and-Roman-Vesta-temple Vestal-Virgin-and-Forum-Romanum sacred-flame-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to lux and ventus 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.