Agate

Etymology

The name agate comes from Semitic aqiq or achit: "separation of a newborn's hair". The word was then applied to a valley near Medina in Saudi Arabia, then the Greeks transposed it into achates, which also pointed to a river of Sicily (the Drillo) where the stone could be found. In Latin it became agate.

Amber

Etymology

The modern term amber comes from this stone's flammable character: an old root br went through Old German börnsten to give German bernstein ("burning stone") and through Germanic anbernen ("burn") then Arabic anbar ("amber", but also incenses and other perfumes to burn) to give ambra (Latin), ambre (French), amber.

Greece

The Greek word for amber was êléktron, "resplendent thing", because of its colour (the sun was poetically called êléktôr); because of its ability to attract dust once rubbed, the name gave the word electricity. Nowadays it is berenikis in reference to the blonde hair of Berenice II, mother of Ptolmy Philopator. In the legend, Phaeton, son of Helios the Sun asked to drive his father's charriot for one day. But his awkwardness caused disastrous fires and Zeus struck him with a lightning bolt. His sisters the Electrides wept and wept over his body until the gods in pity turned them into poplar trees on the shores of the Eridan river; but inconsolable they wept still, and their tears were now of amber.
According to Sophocles, amber was the petrified tears of the sisters of the hero Meleagres, who were changed into birds and weep the death of their brother: in the Baltic Sea the stone is sometimes named "seabird tear". Another Greek historian, Theoprastes, says that they are the tears of the lynx (but lynx may here refer to a people, not the animal).

Germany

The German people named amber glesse: "luminous", whence Latin glessum and German and English glass.

Baltic Sea

The presence of amber on the shores of the Baltic Sea is the origin of its Finnish name merikivi: "sea-stone". For the ancient Balts, the beautiful Mermaid goddess Jurate was engaged to the god of Waters Patrimpas and lived in an amber palace at the bottom of the sea. Seduced by the beauty and courage of the humble fisherman Kastytis, who was throwing his nets at the borders of her domain, she forgot all else and took him into her palace. In anger, Perkunas, master of the gods, hurled his lightning which destroyed the palace and killed Kastytis. Condemned to be chained to the ruins of her home, beaten by the waves, Jurate wails in the storm and weeps tears of limpid amber which the sea throws back on the shores, along with the algae and translucid amber stones of her palace.

Turkey

In Turkey it is considered a "hygienic" stone, hence the fact they don't minding drinking the narguile from the same pipe as long its mouth is of amber. The Turkish name for amber is Persia-originating kehruba, "straw-thief": this word means now in Turkish and Arabic "electricity".

Eastern Europe

In the East, it is said that honey from the mountains of Ajan was melted by the sun and solidified into amber by the sea.

China

The Chinese think that amber is the petrification of the soul of the dead Tiger, and so think that it gives strength and courage.

Etymology

Amethyst comes from Greek a- (privative) and methustès ("drunkard"). It is said that you could pretend you were drinking wine without getting drunk by drinking in an amethyst cup (which is the colour of wine).

Greece

According to the Greek legend, Amethyst was a beautiful nymph whom Dionysos fell in love with; he pursued her and as he was about to catch her, she begged the goddess Artemis to save her. The goddess changed her into a beautiful and cold cristal in Dionysos' arms. Remorseful, he poured his cup of wine on the tope of the stone to give it its beautiful wine colour (which would explain why usually, only the top of amethyst crystals is coloured) and decided, in tribute to Amethyst and out of love for her, that the stone would have the power to counter the effects of alcohol and to favour chastity.

Hebrew lore

The Hebrew word for amethyst is achlemah, meaning "that which gives pleasant dreams".

Christian lore

In Christian symbology, the amethyst allied the blue of the heavens to the red of blood (Christ's or the martyrs'), and so became from Renaissance on an episcopal stone symbolizing humility (it ornated the crosses of the Inquisition).

Etymology

Tradition has it that a Murano glass worker had by chance (by "adventure") dropped some copper filings in molten glass. Once cool, the mix took a very pleasing aspect, and the young man decided to reproduce it and name it aventurine: "born by adventure". The name was later given to the gems that presented the same appearance.

Beryl

Etymology

The Greeks knew it as bêrullos, deriving from Sanskrit vaidurya meaning "crystal". To Hindus it is a symbol of purity, and is offered as a wedding gift. . Abbreviated to brill, the word gave birth to Italian brillare ("shine") then French briller (brilliance passed into English).

Carnelian

Muslim lore

In Islam, prayers are engraved in this stone; according to some the gem on Muhammad's ring, from which he had his power, was a carnelian.

Coral

Greece

One of the ancient Greek names for the coral was gorgeia, from the legend that when Perseus cut off the head of Medusa (the Gorgone), blood dripping from it fell into the sea where it was gathered by the sea nymphs and planted underwater to grow into coral.

Chrysolie

This stone is also known now as Olivine. The island where this stone was extracted in Antiquity was well guarded by the Egyptians who prevented any access to it; the stone was therefore named in Greek laiggourios: "guarded stone". But the term allowed for a play on words with oureo ("urinate") and lunx ("lynx"), hence the legend that this stone, which is appropriately coloured would have been born of the solidified urine of the lynx.

Diamond

Etymology

From the Greek word adamastos: "unrelenting, unconquerable", which originally meant a state of being to which every man should aspire. By extension, adamas was the name of the strongest metal with which the weapons of the gods are forged, and adamas came to also apply to diamond. From there come the western derivations (diamante, diamant, diamond) and the Russian and Arabic almaz.

Hindu lore

In Hindu mythology, diamond has a great importance. It is the vajra (lightning, the weapon of Indra, main god of the Hindus), and by the 6 points of the octaedra symbolises the true man who resists to attacks from the north, south, east and west, from the infernal powers and celestial powers. Therefore a diamond bearer is protected from fire, poison, thiefs, water, snakes and evil spirits. Its hardness is well known: "Only vajra cuts into vajra" but all octaedric crystals are considered diamonds: colourless ones (the diamonds proper) are attributed to the brahmane, the priestess; red ones (spinelles) to the kshatriya, the warriors; yellow ones (maybe diamonds) to the vaiya, the merchants; black ones (magnetite) to the sždra, the peasants.

Europe

In the XVIth century, it was believed that diamond was a poison, and that diamond powder was an ingredient in the famous "succession powders" of Catherine of Medici. This legend was kept alive to discourage thieves from swallowing diamonds to hide them.

Malaysia

In the diamond mines of Borneo, if a stone contains in its center a grey or black ghost diamond, the well where it was found is abandoned: a Malaysian legend holds that these stones hold the "soul of the diamond", and the mine will die if its soul leaves it. However, diamond soul is a personal talisman that people will wear as an amulet.

Emerald

Etymology

Emerald, émeraude, esmeralda, ismurud, smaragd, smeraldo, zomorod (an old Arabic term) all derive from Greek smaragdos, but the latter can derive from any of three distinct origins:
First, mefek-en-ma or mefik-ma applied in Ancient Egypt to all green stones, and would have given Sanskrit marakat which, influenced by the name of the monster Esmarak, became smarakata, hence the Greek word.
Another possible origin is the Sanskrit word acmagarbha, become mahabharata then marakata, hence the Greek word (on the other hand mahabharata became barrakta, then Hebrew bareket and the second old Arabic word zabargad, applying rather to the peridot).
Finally, Greek marmarysso ("shine") may have given on one hand marmaros ("marble", the shining stone), and on the other smaragdos (the green shining stone).

Rome

A Roman legend tells of a king whose only fortune was a single magnificent emerald, which he threw into the sea as a sacrifice to gains the gods' favours. The next day, the emerald was found again in the stomach of a fish that had been served at the king's table. Later on the latter became Emperor Augustus and encased the miraculous stone at the foot of the altar dedicated to the goddess of Concord.

Christian lore

In the Christian tradition, the emerald fell from Lucifer's helmet during his battle with Archangel Michael. The Graal, the mythical vase with 144 angles, was sculpted in an emerald, which then became the symbol of divine revelation.

Garnet

Etymology

Sanskrit root gar, "transport", became in Greek gerôn, "old man" and in Latin granum, "seed". From there came the adjective granatus, "having many grains", and granatum: "pomegranate", which has red seeds. It is by comparison with the fruit that garnet gained its name.

Hematite

Etymology

From Greek haimatitês, the name of this stone comes from the fact that it leaves a blood (haimatos) red trace on porcelain.

Jade

China

In China, the name for jade, the most noble of all gems to them, is yü: "precious stone"; it is the royal stone. Yü meant "treasure" the way "gold" means "wealth" in English. It is designated by an ideogram in the shape of a Roman 1 with a central horizontal dash; the upper part of this symbol means the sky, its lower part the earth, its central part man. The king, intermediate between heaven and earth, is designated by this same ideogram with a diagonal dash at lower right. For more Chinese jade lore, read Jade and the Chinese.

Maori

The Maori people name it pounama: "green treasure".

Apache

A variety of obsidian found in Arizona is called Apache Tears. In the folklore of the area, a band of Apache hunted by the cavalry was driven over a steep cliff by the troops. When the braves' loved ones learned of the horrible event, they came to the cliff to mourn and their tears, falling to the ground, became the gems now known as Apache Tears.

Etymology

The word onyx comes from Greek onux, "fingernail" (the aspect of certains kinds of this stone recall the color and layering of fingernails, even though the word now often applies to a deep black stone). In mythology, while Aphrodite was asleep the god Eros (Cupid) playfully cut her fingernails with his arrow and let the clippings fall in the waters of the Indus river. But even the smallest part of the body of an immortal cannot die and they lived on, transformed by the Parques into the onyx.

Europe

Because the separation between the dark and light layers of the onyx was so clear, it was considered as evil in the Middle-ages.

Maghreb

A Maghrebi tradition calls onyx el jaza, "sadness", and claims that this stone is so feared in China that only slaves extract it and that it is immediately sold outside the country; no sane Maghrebi should wear it or keep it among his riches.

Opal

Etymology

Opal may originate in Sanskrit upala: "precious stone".

Hindu lore

The Hindu legend tells of a woman desired by three gods at the same time, and whom the Eternal changed into a magic cloud. In order to recognize her, Brahma endowed her with the colour of the azure, Shiva tainted her with fiery red, and Vishnu gave her the splendour of the sun; then the Eternal gave her consistance again in the shape of an opal. Another legend says that the opal is born from the sacrifice of a young woman who hurled herself in the funerary pyre of her lover in stead of the legitimate wife, whose death was demanded by Hindu rites.

Europe

It was believed that the opal could make one invisible, hence its Middle-ages name of patronus furum ("patron of thieves").

France

Since the XIXth century, a specifically French superstition has it that the opal is a jinx. The origin of this belief is the fragility of the opal: lapidaries and jewellers were penalized if they damaged the stones they had to mount, and the frequent breaking of this mineral came to make them feel that it had bad luck attached to it. Jewellers still confess now that it brings bad luck to their wallet.

Pearl

Etymology

Pearls were named morvarid ("sea-daughter") in Persian, becoming markarit in Armenian, then margaritês or margaron ("poetic") in Greek, and finally margarita in Latin (hence the name Margaret). The Roman people, alluding to the elongated shape of the pearls which they wore as ear pendants, spoke in slang of pirla, diminutive of pira ("pear"): this word was retained by all the modern Latin tongues which were born from the slang Latin of the Roman legions.

Middle East

In the Orient, the legend of the daughter of the prince of Benares is told: the beautiful child was courted by two suitors, one of them rich, old and ugly and the other one poor, young and handsome. She loved the latter, but her father chose the rich suitor. She would not give in and was locked up in a tower by the sea; when her young lover was killed, her tears were so desperate that the gods of the abyss turned them into pearls.

Hindu lore

Vishnu, maintainer of the world, went to find pearls in the ocean to ornate his daughter Pandaia; Indian women now wear them for their wedding, and pearls are highly honoured in India.

Greece

Dedicated to Aphrodite, goddess of love, they are here solidified tears; they preserve young brides from tears.

Muslim lore

Tears of Eve and Adam over their sin, and symbol of the tears wept by those who are in pain and misery, pearls are pleasing to the merciful God and therefore prized by Muslims.

Europe

During the Renaissance, pearls were considered to be dewdrops solidified by the shells that captured them at dawn: their beauty depended on the state of the weather during their conception.

Misc

A myth says that Air offered to God the rainbow, fire a spark, Earth a ruby and Sea a pearl; the first became the aureole, the second lightning, the third an ornament for the divine brow, and the pearl laid on his heart became sorrow.
According to another legend, the pearls are born of the tears of Angels, fallen into the sea.

Peridot

Etymology

Peridot comes from an old French word peritot, possibly from Arabic faridat, "gem". It only appeared in Western Europe with the Crusades, and is sometimes called "emerald of the Crusaders". When the Spaniards brought back emeralds from the Americas, interest in the peridot diminished, and a saying of the time went: "Whoever has two has one too many".

Rock crystal

Etymology

The word "crystal" comes from Greek krustallos meaning "ice"; indeed they believed that rock crystal was water frozen by so intense a cold that it can no longer thaw.

Ruby

Etymology

The Sanskrit word for the ruby is ratnaraj ("queen of gems") or ratnayaka ("first of gems"); it was also named "drop of blood from the motherland". They considered it to hold an inextinguishable internal fire, and this conception is found also in the Greek terms anthrax ("burning coal") and lychnits (from lychnos "lamp", "light") which gave lychnis.

Sapphire

Etymology

Sanskrit sauriratna, Chaldean sampir, Hebrew sapphir ("most beautiful of things") gave Greek sappheiros transcribed in Latin sapphirus.

Greece

In Greek mythology, Hyacinth was a young friend of Apollo who accidentally killed him. He was transformed into a beautiful blue flower, and by analogy, the mineral of the same colour took the same name (no longer in use).

Christian lore

The colour blue was a sacred colour worn by priests to show their link to the heavens. In the Middle-ages sapphire became this symbol of the union of the priest and the sky, and ornated the rings of bishops.
The Judeo-Christian tradition has it that Abraham wore one around his neck, and that at his death the sapphire rose straight back to the sun.

Staurolite

Europe

Legend tells of how fairies were one day dancing in a glen, when they learnt the sad news of the crucifixion of Christ; the fairies burst into tears and the teardrops falling to earth cristallized, forming tiny crosses of stone.

Turquoise

Etymology

The Greek name for it was kallalith ("beautiful stone") then callais, and to the Arabs it is feyruz ("lucky stone"). Turquoise from Iran was sold to the Europeans by the Turks, hence the modern name of turquoise.

Aztec lore

The Aztec linked this stone to the Sun, who, according to legend, chased the Moon and Stars from the sky thanks to a turquoise serpent. The name of the Aztecfire god Xiuhtecuhtli means "master of turquoises", that of the war god Vitzilopochtli means "prince of turquoises". The teuxivitl, the finest turquoise, was dedicated to the gods and could not be owned or worn by anyone.

Buddhist lore

To Buddhists it is a sacred stone: when Buddha was attacked by a monster he was able to kill it with the magical powers of the turquoise he wore.

. Larousse des Pierres Précieuses.

. Tuan, Laura, Pouvoir et Magie des Pierres Précieuses.

. Cunningham, Scott, Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic.

Article © Joumana Medlej. Pictures from Le Larousse des Pierres Précieuses