The impossiblity of dark blond

The word blond (also spelled blonde) grew from two possible origins: Medieval Latin's blundus or Vulgar Latin's flavus--both of which mean "yellow". Though the associated hair color could be described as yellow, blond entered into language as a replacement of fæger-- formally meaning "beautiful, good-looking, attractive", but practically overriding (and solidifying) blond meaning "fair".

The possible roots would indicate that blond is a color, and so would current usages. This is not untrue--it is just skewed. In replacing "fair", blond became an conceptual adjective describing the amount of pigment rather than the color of that pigment. (Another good example of conceptually-skewed adjective is robust, truly a better as a descriptor of coffee's flavor than information's breadth.) The link between concept and physicality has led to a conflation of the idea captured by blond.

A troubling use (at least, a troubling use for me) of this shifted meaning is dark blond, literally meaning "dark light-toned" as opposed to the intended "yellow-brown". This oxymoron is hidden behind years of misuse.