Description

Tommy from Arad, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

About Jasper

The name means “spotted or speckled stone,” and is derived via Old French jaspre (variant of Anglo-Norman jaspe) and Latin iaspidem (nom. iaspis) from Greek ἴασπις iaspis (feminine noun),^[6] from an Afroasiatic language (cf. Hebrew ישפה yashpeh, Akkadian yashupu).^[7] This Semitic etymology is believed to be unrelated to that of the English given name Jasper, which is of Persian origin,^[8] though the Persian word for the mineral jasper is also yashp (یَشم).

Green jasper was used to make bow drills in Mehrgarh between 4th and 5th millennium BC.^[9] Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world; its name can be traced back in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and Latin.^[10] On Minoan Crete, jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800 BC, as evidenced by archaeological recoveries at the palace of Knossos.^[11]

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