Emerald

An emerald is a mineral gemstone and a variety of beryl. It is the birthstone of someone whose birthday is in the month of May. It is a green crystal. The emerald is one of the most valuable gems, along with the ruby, the opal, topaz, the diamond, and a sapphire.

 Etymology 
The word emerald comes from Vulgar Latin. The word was Esmaralda/Esmaraldus, a different way of saying the Latin word Smaragdus, which came from the Greek,  (smaragdos; "green gem"). It first came from a Semitic word, izmargad (). This meant "emerald" or "green". The name could also be related to the Semitic word baraq (בָּרָק ;البُراق; "lightning" or "shine") (c.f.  bareqeth and , barq, "lightning"). It is where the Persian ( zomorrod), Turkish (), Sanskrit ( maragdam) and Russian (; izumrúd) words came from.

Related pages
 List of minerals
 Emerald (color)

 References 

Category:Gemstones
Category:Birthstones
Category:Beryl