Cfrtjryk

This question was inspired by this one from skeptics.se, about the use of pink and blue clothing to denote the sex of babies. In noting cultures which have the reverse arrangement (i.e. some sort of anti-blue for boys) many examples actually seem to be that language's word for fairly saturated reds, rather than the very pastel shades we mean by modern English "pink."

I was already aware that traditional English hunting coats are called "pinks" even though they are actually scarlet. This set me to wondering if the meaning of the colour name may have changed over time, gradually becoming less saturated?

What I have found so far:

• In general it is very difficult to be sure exactly what gamut of colours corresponds to an historic colour name;




• The most common (albeit disputed) etymology for the hunting coats
  suggests they are based on a tailor's surname, not a colour, so that
  may be a red herring (so to speak!);



• Etymologies for the color name
  generally refer to the plant genus Dianthus, or the species of
  that genus, Dianthus plumarius, that are commonly called
  "pinks." However I have an issue with that etymology. Whilst pinks
  may have a pastel colour, it is not usual. Depending on the soil conditions and exact strain, the colour is quite variable, ranging
  from white through to a very deep purple. The most common
  coloration seems to be a rather dark purplish red that perhaps could
  be called "carmine."


• 
  This excellent answer about the etymology of pink includes
  a (probably incomplete) timeline of the word gradually becoming a
  colour name. In 1819 at least four dyesª were called "pinks". All but
  one were saturated colours, and one was not even a shade of red. The
  unsaturated one was English pink, described as a "pale form of
  Dutch pink."

All of which has been very interesting, but not arrived at an answer to my question: when newspapers of the 1890s—1920s refer to dressing newborn boys in pink, what colour did they mean by "pink"?

a. Brief aside on the chemistry of dyes: the fact that a dye is a "lake" is unrelated to its colour. It is related only to the method of binding the pigment to the cloth. Both saturated and pastel shades may be lakes.