Earth & SkyGreek → English
Jasper
/ˈdʒæspər/noun
An opaque quartz, usually red, brown or green, used for carving and ornament.
The Greek roots
ἴασπις
íaspis
jasper, spotted stone
Literally: “the stone iaspis”
Follow a root:ἴασπις1 word
The story of the word
The name is Semitic before it is Greek: Hebrew yashpeh and Akkadian ashpu stand behind ἴασπις, which Greek took as a loan. Latin iaspidem and Old French jaspre carried it to English in the fourteenth century. Ancient jasper was not always today's mineral, though; classical stone names sorted gems by colour and hardness, not by composition, so the Revelation jasper may well be something else entirely.
- How it travelled
- Semitic → Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
In a sentence
The handle is inlaid with a band of red jasper worn smooth by use.