aquamarine

From Latin aqua marīna (“sea water”), adjective form from mare (“sea”).


amethyst

From Middle English ametist, from Old French ametiste (French améthyste), from Ancient Greek ἀμέθυστος (améthustos, “not drunk”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + μεθύω (methúō, “I am drunk”), from μέθυ (méthu, “wine”). The Greeks believed that the amethyst prevented intoxication.

der

The Field is Topaz, a Lion rampant Amethyst [...]

1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd, page 407:

Purple, on the arms of princes Mercury, of peers amethyst, and of commoners purpure, [is represented] by diagonal lines from the sinister chief to the dexter base.

1834, The Art of Heraldry; Explaining the Origin and Use of Arms and Armorial Bearings, Etc, page 14:

1st & 4th grand Quarter alike viz. Field Pearl, on a bend Sapphire 3 Buckheads, coup'd topaz for Stanley. The 2d Quarter, Field Sapphire with an inverted Chief, amethyst. The 3d, A Checque topaz & Amethyst, this seems prior to Bosworth field, to have belong'd to Sr Robt Goushill whose Dr a Stanley married …

1906 (printed), The Beetham Repository, 1770 (eds. William Hutton, John Rawlinson Ford), page 115

(heraldry) The tincture purpure, when blazoning by precious stones.


turquoise

en-adj

turquoise (comparative more turquoise, superlative most turquoise)

more turquoise (comparative)
most turquoise (superlative)

From Middle French turquoise, from Old French (pierre) turquoise (“Turkish (stone)”), from turc + -ois. The stone, mined near Nishapur in the Khorasan region of Persia, was originally brought to Europe through Turkey. Doublet of Turkish.


sapphire

en-noun

sapphire (countable and uncountable, plural sapphires)

→ Tokelauan: hafaila

→ Welsh: saffir

From Middle English saphir, from Old French saphir, from Latin sapphir, sappir, sapphīrus, from Ancient Greek σάπφειρος (sáppheiros, “precious stone, gem”), from a Semitic language such as Hebrew סַפִּיר (sappī́r, “lapis lazuli”), originally from Assyrian Akkadian šipirtu (“lapis lazuli”).

cog

Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; […]

1720, Francis Nichols, Rudiments of Honour, page 296:

3. Saphire, ten Bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1, by the Bisset.

1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd; Or, an Abridgment of Guillim, page 504:

(2) Topaz, a Chief Indented, Saphire.

1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 71:

Topaz, on a Cross, Sapphire, a Crosier thrust through a Mitre, Topaz.

1756, Francis Nichols, The Irish Compendium, Or, Rudiments of Honour, Containing the Descent, Marriage, Isssue, Titles, Posts, and Seats, of All the Nobility of Ireland..., page 440:

(heraldry) Azure, when blazoning by precious stones.


ruby

en-noun

ruby (countable and uncountable, plural rubies)

From Middle English ruby, rube, from Old French rubi, from Medieval Latin rubīnus.


diamond

diamond (countable and uncountable, plural diamonds)

From Middle English dyamaunt, from Old French diamant, from Late Latin diamas, from Latin adamas, from Ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adámas, “diamond”). Doublet of adamant. The printing sense is a calque of Dutch diamant, used by Dirck Voskens who first cut it around 1700; compare pearl, ruby (“size of type between pearl and nonpareil”).

der

What a beautiful engagement diamond.


garnet

en-noun

garnet (countable and uncountable, plural garnets)

From Middle English gernet, granate, from Old French grenate, from grenat (“pomegranate red”). Doublet of grenade.

How many needles Betty Flanders had lost there! and her garnet brooch.

1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room, Vintage Classics, page 127:

Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)

2012 March 20, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 2012-06-14, page 128:

(mineralogy) A hard transparent mineral that is often used as gemstones and abrasives.


opal

In Florio’s A World of Words 1598 as opale, from French opale, from Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”), from उपरि (upári, “the upper millstone”). Distantly related to over.

أُوبَال

a mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity

(mineralogy) A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity, of the chemical formula SiO₂·nH₂O.

(gemology) A precious gem, an iridescent gemstone found in the opal-silica mineral substrate (potch)


pearl

pearl (countable and uncountable, plural pearls)

Horace
Jean Jannon
New Testament
Vergil
en:pearl
en:pearl (disambiguation)
en:pearl (typography)

From Middle English perle, from Old French perle of uncertain etymology. Probably via unattested Medieval Latin *pernula, from Latin perna (“haunch; a marine bivalve shaped like a leg of lamb”) but also derived from Medieval Latin perla, from Latin perula (“little bag”). Its typographic use follows the name given by Jean Jannon to the type used in his miniature editions of Vergil, Horace, & the New Testament in the 1620s, which were the smallest printed works to his time. Its surfing use derives from the supposed resemblance to pearl diving.

der

A shelly concretion, usually rounded, and having a brilliant luster, with varying tints, found in the mantle, or between the mantle and shell, of certain bivalve mollusks, especially in the pearl oysters and river mussels, and sometimes in certain univalves. It is usually due to a secretion of shelly substance around some irritating foreign particle. Its substance is the same as nacre, or mother-of-pearl. Round lustrous pearls are used in jewellery.

налкъвыт-налма́с

rounded shelly concretion produced by certain mollusks

There is gold, and multitude of pearles: but a precious vessel the lips of knowledge.

1635, Douay Rheims Bible, Proverbs 20:15

Errol. Pearl three Escutcheons Ruby. / Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; and the Field Topaz, and Saltier, and Chief Ruby, was the Arms of King Robert the Bruce, they altering the Field from Pearl (as he bore it) to Topaz.

The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. The Armes of the most Noble and Puissant Lord, Edward Brabazon, Earl of Meath, and Baron of Atherdee in the Kingdom of Ireland. His Lordship's Atchievements are Quarterly of sixteen Coats. 1. Brabazon, as above. 2. Diamond, on a Chevron between three Pickaxes Pearl, as many Mullets Ruby, by the Name of Mosley. 3. Saphire, ten Bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1, by the Bisset. 4. Pearl, on a Bend Diamond, nine Annulets conjoined in three Links Topaz.

(1) Pearl, a Cross, Ruby, with the Effigies of our Saviour thereon, Topaz, born in Memory of one of the Family's fighting against the Turks.

(heraldry) Argent, in blazoning by precious stones.


topaz

en-noun

topaz (usually uncountable, plural topazes)

→ Irish: tópás

→ Welsh: topas

From Old French topace (compare French topaze), from Ancient Greek τόπαζος (tópazos).

A silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine, usually tinted by impurities.

Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; and the Field Topaz, and Saltier, and Chief Ruby, was the Arms of King Robert the Bruce, they altering the Field from Pearl (as he bore it) to Topaz. / Eglington. Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Saphyr three Flower-de-Liss Topaz, for Montgomery; 2d and 3d, Ruby three Anulets Topaz', ston'd Saphyr, for the Title of Eglington; […]

The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. […] 4. Pearl, on a Bend Diamond, nine Annulets conjoined in three Links Topaz.

(1) Pearl, a Cross, Ruby, with the Effigies of our Saviour thereon, Topaz, born in Memory of one of the Family's fighting against the Turks. (2) Topaz, a Chief Indented, Saphire. (3) Ruby, three covered Cups, Topaz […]

(heraldry) Or (gold or yellow), in blazoning by precious stones.

A ruby-topaz hummingbird, Chrysolampis mosquitus, the male of which has bright ruby feathers on the head and topaz on the throat


topaz

Various theories. Hobson-Jobson mentions as possibilities a corruption of Persian (from Turkish) top-chi, "gunner", or a connection with topee, from the hats they wore.

(historical, British India) A black Catholic soldier in the British Army.


peridot

peridot (countable and uncountable, plural peridots)

/ˈpɛɹ.ɪ.dəʊ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-peridot.wav

From Middle English peritot, from Anglo-Norman peridou, peridout, Middle French perido, peridon, of uncertain origin; later reborrowed from modern French péridot.

Gem-quality olivine is known as peridot, which has a subtle green light all its own.

2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 51:

Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […]. (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)

A transparent olive-green form of olivine, used as a gem.