Smoldering Odin Rose

The progressive participle of smolder, to burn slowly without flame. Used as a color word since the late nineteenth century for the deep reds and oranges of barely-flame coal — the warm saturated darks where the heat is internal rather than emitted. Sits in the bold-and-warm corner, slightly less luminous than burning and slightly less calm than rich.

Old Norse Óðinn, all-father-of-the-Aesir. As a color modifier, odin implies a one-eyed-and-raven-and-runic-wisdom quality, the visual register of Norse-all-father-Odin-and-Yggdrasil hand-one-eyed-and-raven-and-runic-wisdom Norse-all-father-Odin-and-Yggdrasil-and-Asgard odin-and-one-eyed-and-raven-and-runic-wisdom surfaces under Norse-all-father-Odin-and-Yggdrasil-and-Asgard Hugin-and-Munin-raven-and-Mimir-well runic-wisdom-light. Sits at the modifier-and-myth end of the grid, parallel to thor and freya in usage.

The Latin rosa, the Greek rhodon, the Persian gul — every European language has a different name for the same flower and the same color. Rose covers the spectrum from blush to fuchsia depending on the cultivar, but in pigment shorthand it means a cool, slightly bluish red — the inside of a damask petal, the dye that washes out of madder root.