Vivid Sufi Goldenrod

From the Latin vividus, full of life — used as a color modifier since the late sixteenth century for hues that read as luminous and saturated. Vivid red, vivid blue: the implication is that the color appears almost lit from within, with the optical brightness of a high-chroma surface in good light. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside bright and electric.

Arabic صوفي, Sufi. As a color modifier, sufi implies a Whirling-Dervish-and-mystical-Islamic quality, the visual register of Persian-and-Anatolian-Sufi Sufi hand-woven robe-and-felt-cap-and-whirling-dance Sufi-mystical-Islamic surfaces under Konya-and-Persian Sufi-Whirling-Dervish ceremonial-robe candlelight. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to zen and tao in usage.

Solidago, the late-summer wildflower of North American meadows whose tall sprays of small yellow flowers signal the end of the growing season. The color refers to the flower head at full bloom: a warm, slightly muted yellow-orange with the matte finish of small clustered florets. Cooler than mustard, deeper than dandelion. The state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska, a pollinator magnet, and the original native dye for early American homespun.