Sterling Silver Jewelry: The Etymology Of Peridot

Used as an item of adornment from more than 2300 years, Peridot has been called amongst others: Pitdah, Topazion, Topazos, Topaz, Chrysolite, Olivine, Evening Emerald and Gem of the Sun.

In 300 B.C., a group of seventy-two rabbis called the Septuagint was commissioned by the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt, Ptolemy II, to translate ancient Hebrew texts into Greek. These manuscripts were included into the library of Alexandria, and became known as the Old Testament.

According to the Septuagint, the Hebrew word ‘Pitdah’ featured in these texts could be translated as Topazion: the Greek word for bright green gems named after their source the Island of Topazion. Today, this Island is known as Zabargad and is a reputed ancient source for Peridot. In 1611 A.D., two thousand years later, Topazion was translated into English in the King James Old Testament as Topaz. For these reasons alone, our Peridot was known for more than two millenniums as Topaz. But what of the actual word Peridot and its etymological roots?

The origin of the word Peridot itself is unclear, but one thing is sure, the term was not in existence before the 1st Century A.D. In what is perhaps the world’s first encyclopedia, the famous Roman historian Pliny clearly referred to a bright green gem from the Island of Zabargad as 'Topazion' or ‘Topazos’. In fact this term was used to denote Peridot up until the fall of the Roman Empire. However, during Pliny’s time it was not uncommon that gemstones received more than one name, and that unrelated gems share names in common.

One such generic appendage was ‘Paederos’ (Greek for: ‘Beautiful Youth’), or the later version of ‘Pederote,’ (Latin: pronounced Ped-or-oat): employed by Pliny to denote amongst others amethyst and opal. In fact the less discerning Roman public used ‘Pederote’ to refer to most good-looking gems.

Towards the end of the Roman Empire, Western Europe fell to the barbarians, but in the Near East Roman culture survived within the Byzantine Empire. Under the Byzantines, words and languages bequeathed by the previous Greek and Roman cultures were continued. Similarly art and culture prospered, especially the skills of the lapidaries. However, soon enough the East became the envy of the West, and under the pious concept of reuniting Christendom with the West, the crusades began. France, at the fore of the eight crusades taking place between the 10th and the 12th Centuries, was represented in the Holy Lands by the Templar Knights.

During the two centuries the Templars amassed great wealth, returning to Europe with their newly acquired booty of precious metals, jewelry and gemstones: amongst which, was a comparitvley unknown golden green gemstone called ‘Pederote.’

It was during the crusades of the medieval period that a perversion of the word ‘Pederote’ resurfaced. It appeared in the French book ‘Les Lapidaries Français,’ written sometime between 1100 and 1250 A.D. The ‘Lapidaire Français,' was written specifically for the use by the educated Norman aristocracy, who also occupied England at the time. The book outlined 60 gems giving their medicinal value, magical properties and moral significations: one of the featured gems was the ‘Pedoretés’ (pronounced Peh-door-ray). The first recorded instance of this word in popular use by the aristocracy appears in a 11th Century message written by the French lord, Mont Cassin de Solinus, where he uses a word to describe a green gemstone: ‘Perodote’ (pronounced Peh-roh-doh).

However, comparing Solinus' later ‘Perodote' (Peh-roh-doh) with the earlier ‘Lapidaire Français' ‘Pedoretés' (Peh-door-ray), we can hear and see that there has been a reversal of the second and third syllable. In linguistics this is called a ‘Metathesis': a phenomenon where two sounds appearing in particular order in one word, overtime will occur in the reverse order in the same word. French etymologists from the ‘Académie Français’ believe that this explains the shift in the two words.

The excerpt above was taken from a later book ‘Lapidaire Des Pierres Gravées’ documenting the etymology of Peridot in France from the 13th Century onwards. It gives Peridot’s name during the 13th Century as ‘Peridol’ (pronounced Peh-rii-dole), and as ‘Peridon’ (pronounced Peh-rii-dohn) during the later 14th Century. Translated it reads:

Peridon (Peridol) [Peridot gemstone, also called green-yellowish olivine. ‘A gem called peridon enclosed in gold.’ xx sols t, (invoice of the Duke of Berry, year 1416.)- viii ‘gemstones of which there were a grenas (garnet), a lopue, an ametiste (amethyst) and a peridol (peridot).’ [invoice of the Duke of Anjou year 1360.] ”

As mentioned before, the Norman French occupied England during this period, and the aristocracy imposed their language upon their English subjects. This greatly influenced the development of the English language: causing Old French words to be assimilated into the Middle English language. However, Peridot wasn’t the only alias to be appropriated to the green gemstone from these sources.

Up until the 19th Century A.D., another Greek word was also used to denote Peridot and gemstones similar in aspect: Chrysolite. This originally came from the Greek ‘Khrysolithos’, ‘Khryso’ meaning golden and ‘Lithos’ meaning stone. It transformed into ‘Chrysolithus’ in Latin, and ‘Crisolite’ in Old French, eventually becoming ‘Chrysolite’ in Middle English.

The French poet Philippe de Thaon wrote the following excerpt in 1112 A.D.: ‘Crisolite ure celeste, qui ourent out vie terrestre.’ Translated the passage reads: ‘Chrysolite the celestial happiness, which they had with the terrestrial life.’ However, there is no conclusive proof to indicate that he was talking of our Peridot, as Chrysolite was also used to describe the majority of all yellow to yellow-green transparent gemstones including: Topaz, prehnite, apatite, sapphire, chrysoberyl, beryl, tourmaline, and andradite garnet. By today’s standards such an inaccurate, generic term is disused.

A similar term of equally broad connotations was also appropriated to Peridot: Olivine. This originated from the Greek ‘Elaiw’ or ‘Elai’, transforming to the Latin ‘Olva’ and eventually to the French ‘Olivine’. In 17th Century France Olivine was a jeweler’s term for a variety of Chrysolite, today it is a term used to denote one of the most common mineral types on the Earth’s surface, a magnesium/iron silicate in which the ratio of magnesium and iron vary between the two mineral extremities: Forsterite (Mg2SiO4) and Fayalite (Fe2SiO4). Peridot is actually a rare sub-species of the Olivine group: Forsterite-Olivine. Forsterite, the mineralogical term used to denote the Olivine species of Peridot, was named in honor of the German mineralogist J. R. Forster.

It is important to state that the etymological theories on these pages are speculative, and should not be taken as gospel.

Copyright © SilverShake Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Written for SilverShake, an online retailer of silver peridot jewelry and sterling silver jewelry at wholesale prices. Purchase today and get silver jewelry worth up to $60...Free!

Sterling Silver Jewelry: Peridot Gem Of The Sun

In the pages describing its etymology and history we learn that Peridot through time received the erroneous name of topaz. Today, topaz is often referred to as ‘Gem Of The Sun’, a moniker attached to a scintillating gemstone sourced in ancient Egypt. However, the topaz that we know today was unknown to the Egyptians, making it impossible for our topaz to be the suitor of this description. Unlike topaz, Peridot was known to the Egyptians, and was sourced from the island of ‘Topazin.’ This island, located in Foul Bay off the southern coast of Egypt in the Red Sea, is now known as Zabargad.

The slaves that sourced the island’s green ‘Topazion’ gems mined by day, but also by night as it was apparently difficult to distinguish the lustrous green gems by daylight. To overcome this problem, the workers would go out at dusk and mark the location of the gems, which glowed under the incandescent light of torchlights. The workers would then return the next day to work the area. It is believed that the nocturnal brilliance of ‘Topazion’ gave rise to the green gemstone being appropriated with the pseudonym: ‘The Evening Emerald’. It is more than possible that this after dark light show also gave rise to the alias of ‘The Gem Of The Sun.’

However, it is also possible that this term was derived from Egyptians who had already found Peridot inside Pallasite meteorites. Pallasite meteorites are iron-nickel meteorites, which contain Olivine and subsequently Olivine’s sub-species Forsterite-Olivine, or as it’s more commonly known Peridot. Pallasite meteorites are named after the German naturalist Pyotr Pallas, who in 1772 found a 1,600-pound mass that had fallen in Siberia. But how could such Peridot gems form in outer space?

There are asteroids floating in space that measure as much as 50-200km in diameter, these huge rocks once formed the outer and inner layers of planets. In space the accumulation of that much mass, including the inclusion of high-temperature radioactive materials, would slowly alter an asteroids body causing the denser metals to drop to the center of the body. Less dense materials like Olivine wouldn’t descend so far, and would take shape within the outer layers of the asteroid. Overtime these immense asteroids, resembling the structure of the Earth, could possess the equivalent of a crust, mantle and core.

Eventually, the radioactive processes within the core of these asteroids, cooled down and substances such as Olivine would crystallize. A big enough collision between two asteroids would cause fragments of the Olivine rich core-mantle boundary to fly through space; these fragments are the sources of Pallasite meteorites. These meteorites have fallen out of the heavens at regular intervals since the dawn of time. Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine that the ancient alchemic cultures of Egypt, believing ‘As it is above, so it is below,’ considered these bright green Peridot crystals at the heart of these sky rocks to be ‘The Gems Of The Sun.’

The ancient connection between Peridot, and the virtues of the Sun, remained right up until the Middle Ages when Peridot was also called ‘Crisolite:’ The golden stone.

Copyright © SilverShake Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Written for SilverShake, an online retailer of silver peridot jewelry and sterling silver jewelry at wholesale prices. Purchase today and get silver jewelry worth up to $60...Free!

An Introduction To The Definition And Etymology Of Silver

Ancient Incas believed the Moon to shed tears of it, the Shetland Celts thought the northern lights contained threads of it and the early Pacific islanders of the Southern hemisphere alleged that all the stars in the heavens were composed of it.

Silver, second only to gold as a popular symbol of status and wealth, is one of the most romantic and sought after of all the precious metals captivating mankind with its lustrous beauty from the beginning of time.

Silver has called to man, compelling him to search out its superior properties, to the most distant and treacherous corners of the globe. In return for silver’s riches man elevated the precious metal amongst the heavens, appropriating its qualities to the Gods, Planets, even naming a country after it: Argentina.

Silver, offering the best value of all precious metals, has seen ages come and go. But unlike gold, Silver has gained popularity not just as a item of adornment, but also as man’s best friend, lending its superior strength, malleability and ductility to a thousand and one purposes: Photography, Money, Health, Transport, Communication, Utility…

Silver (Sil-ver) n: A precious metal with the highest thermal and electrical conductivity of all metals used in a variety of purities in the production of jewelry, tableware, photography and coins.

In its purest form this lustrous metal, like gold, is very soft. For this reason Silver is usually alloyed with other metals such as copper, as is the case in sterling silver jewelry, to make it more robust.

• Fine Silver: 99.9% Silver.



• Thai Karen Hill-Tribe Silver: 99.5% Silver.



• Britannia Silver: 95.84% Silver with up to 4.16% copper.



• Mexican Silver: Usually 95% Silver and 5% Copper.



• Sterling Silver Jewelry: 92.5% Silver, with copper making up the remaining 7.5%.

Silver is a chemical element denoted on the periodic table by the symbol ‘Ag’. In etymological terms this symbol is derived from the early Proto-Indo-European language root word ‘Arg'- meaning ‘White’, or ‘To shine’. This root word is found in ancient:

· Greek – Argos.
· Latin – Argentums.
· Celtic – Argent.
· Sanskrit – Arjuna.

The only languages that lacked this root are the Germano-Balto-Slavic languages that used another stem for Silver thought to be based on a river in Lycia, modern day Turkey:

· Slavic – Sirebro.
· Baltic – Silabr.
· Germanic – Silbr.

The Germanic, or Teutonic, word is the root of the Anglo-Saxon branch word of ‘Silver’ used today.

Read The Etymology Of Sterling

Copyright © SilverShake Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

This article was written for the Silvershake website, an online retailer of sterling silver jewelry at wholesale prices. See 1000’s of gemstone silver jewelry items at prices 80% below normal retail prices. Make one purchase per month and receive silver jewelry worth up to $60...Absolutely free, everytime!