Voluptuous Welsh Cardinal

Latin voluptuōsus, pleasurable — derived from voluptās (pleasure). As a color modifier, voluptuous implies a saturated-and-rich-and-curving-sensual quality, the deep-rich color of Rubens-and-Boucher baroque-and-rococo flesh-and-fabric tonality. Sits at the bold-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to lush and plush in tone.

Old English Wælisc, of-Wales. As a color modifier, welsh implies a Cymric-and-slate quality, the visual register of Welsh-Cymric hand-built slate-and-stone-and-Welsh-wool valley-and-mountain hand-spun-and-hand-quarried surfaces under Welsh-Cymric Snowdonia-and-Brecon-Beacons valley light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to celtic and scot 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.