Strong Magnus Crimson

Old English strang, firm, vigorous — applied to color since the sixteenth century. Strong red, strong tea: a color at full strength is the maximum saturation the medium can produce. Sits at the saturated mid corner of the grid, parallel to bold in usage but slightly more focused on pigment density than on assertion.

Latin magnus, great-or-large. As a color modifier, magnus implies a Latin-great-and-Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta quality, the visual register of Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta-magnus hand-Latin-great-and-Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta-and-Charlemagne-Carolus-Magnus magnus-and-Latin-great surfaces under Albertus-Magnus-and-Magna-Carta-and-Charlemagne-Carolus-Magnus Cologne-cathedral-and-Runnymede-meadow medieval-Latin-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to opus and virtus in usage.

From the Old Spanish cremesin, itself from the Arabic qirmiz — the kermes scale insect, dried and ground into a brilliant carmine dye prized in the medieval Mediterranean. For centuries the most expensive red on a draper's shelf, reserved for cardinals, kings, and the cloth that gave English the word crimson. Cooler than scarlet, deeper than rose; the color of pomegranate seeds and a serious occasion.