Earth & SkyGreek → English
Emerald
/ˈɛmərəld/noun
A deep green gemstone, a variety of beryl coloured by chromium.
The Greek roots
σμάραγδος
smáragdos
green gemstone
Literally: “green stone”
Follow a root:σμάραγδος1 word
The story of the word
Greek smáragdos covered any valuable green stone, and the word is itself a borrowing, most likely from a Semitic source; Sanskrit marakata belongs to the same set of wandering trade names. Latin smaragdus lost its opening s in Vulgar Latin and picked up a vowel, which is how English arrived at emerald while the technical vocabulary still says smaragdine for that green. Pliny reports that Nero watched the games through a green stone, which is the source of every story about his emerald eyeglass.
- How it travelled
- Semitic (probably) → Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 13th century
In a sentence
The emerald in the ring was cloudy, which the jeweller said was normal and even expected.