Category:Amethyst

Am"e*thyst, Etym: [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]

1. (Min.)

Defn: A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. Oriental amethyst, the violet-blue variety of transparent crystallized corundum or sapphire.

2. (Her.)

Defn: A purple color in a nobleman's escutcheon, or coat of arms.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Amethyst - One of the precious stones in the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28:19; Exodus 39:12), and in the foundation of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:20). The ancients thought that this stone had the power of dispelling drunkenness in all who wore or touched it, and hence its Greek name formed from a, " privative ," and methuo, "to get drunk." Its Jewish name, ahlamah', was derived by the rabbins from the Hebrew word halam , "to dream," from its supposed power of causing the wearer to dream. It is a pale-blue crystallized quartz, varying to a dark purple blue. It is found in Persia and India, also in different parts of Europe.