Earth & SkyGreek → English
Pyrope
/ˈpaɪroʊp/noun
A deep red magnesium-aluminium garnet.
The Greek roots
πῦρ
pŷr
fire
ὤψ
ṓps
eye, face
Literally: “fiery-eyed”
The story of the word
Mineralogists named the stone around 1800 from πυρωπός, fiery-eyed, a word Greek poets used of bronze catching the light. Bohemian pyrope was mined in the highlands of northern Bohemia and set into the dense little cluster brooches that Victorian shoppers bought by the tray. The second element is ὤψ, eye, the same piece that hides in myopia, autopsy and cyclops.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
pyrepyromaniamyopiaautopsy
In a sentence
The ring is set with pyrope, not ruby, which is why it cost what it did.
Pyrope grains in the gravel are one of the signs prospectors follow towards diamond pipes.