I love it when everyone's right. Scott's correct that attribution of inherent qualities to the various heraldic tinctures goes back hundreds of years. That's not all that long by heraldic time (in herald years, 1600 was just yesterday), but still.

On the other hand, Kenneth is correct that these inherent qualities varied widely from one medieval/renaissance heraldic writer to another, and the mishmash has continued to the present. Note the overlap and in some cases internal contradictions in the qualities various heraldic writers have ascribed to the different tinctures:

  • Gold: wealth, splendor, greatness, command, generosity, prosperity, glory, sovereignty, adolescence, faith, nobility.
  • Silver: peace, prosperity, amity, purity, joy, truth, frankness, integrity, virginity, justice, beauty, temperance, equity, piety, religiousness, work, innocence, childhood, hope
  • Blue: justice, nobility, zeal, loyalty, perseverance, beauty, serenity, royalty, majesty, sweetness, vigilance, fidelity, patriotism, harmony, intellectuality, wisdom, lucidity, heaven, justice, purity, fearlessness, victoriousness, hardiness, lack of envy
  • Red: audacity, courage, valor, dedication, intrepidity, grace, conspicuous nobility, generosity, honor, passion, patriotism, fire, sanguine temperament, nobleness, boldness, virility
  • Green: hope, honor, courtesy, politeness, abundance, joy, fertility, liberty, lust, felicity, pleasure, beauty, shame, death, youth
  • Black: benignity, wealth, solidarity, austerity, prudence, vigilance, humility, sadness, melancholy, sorrow, decrepitude.