Earth & SkyGreek → English
Sardonyx
/ˈsɑːrdənɪks/noun
A banded stone of red-brown sard alternating with white onyx layers.
The Greek roots
σάρδιον
sárdion
sard, red-brown stone
ὄνυξ
ónyx
fingernail
Literally: “sard with a fingernail band”
The story of the word
Two stones in one name: sard, a red-brown chalcedony probably called after Sardis in Lydia, layered with onyx. ὄνυξ means fingernail, and the pale banded stone was thought to look like a nail held up to the light. Roman engravers prized sardonyx for cameos, because the layers let a white figure be carved out of a dark ground in one piece.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
onyxchalcedonyparonychia
In a sentence
The cameo is sardonyx, the head white against a brown field.