Hardy Loki 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.

Old Norse Loki, trickster-god-and-shape-shifter. As a color modifier, loki implies a trickster-and-shape-shifter-and-sly quality, the visual register of Norse-Loki-and-Asgard-trickster hand-trickster-and-shape-shifter-and-sly Norse-Loki-and-Asgard-trickster-and-Ragnarok loki-and-trickster-and-shape-shifter-and-sly surfaces under Norse-Loki-and-Asgard-trickster-and-Ragnarok Yggdrasil-and-Aesir-pantheon shape-shifter-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to thor and odin 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.