Jasper
/ˈdʒæs.pər/noun
An opaque, usually red, brown, yellow, or green variety of chalcedony used as a gemstone and ornamental stone.
Did you know?Jasper is named among the stones associated with the high priest’s breastplate in Exodus and appears again in the apocalyptic imagery of Revelation, though the biblical stone identifications remain uncertain.
Etymological Timeline
Late Bronze Age or earlier
Semitic
yashpeh
“A term for a precious or ornamental stone; the precise ancient mineral identification is uncertain.”
Ancient Hebrew
Hebrew
יָשְׁפֵה (yāšpēh)
“A gemstone named in biblical lists, traditionally rendered as jasper.”
4th–3rd Century BCE
Ancient Greek
ἴασπις (íaspis)
“Jasper or a related spotted or multicolored precious stone.”
1st Century BCE–1st Century CE
Latin
iaspis
“Jasper; a decorative gemstone mentioned in Roman mineral and natural-history writing.”
12th–14th Century
Old French
jaspre / jaspe
“Jasper, borrowed through medieval Latin and used for the ornamental stone.”
14th Century onward
English
jasper
“The gemstone name adopted into English, later also used in mineralogical and decorative-art contexts.”