When the term emerald was first used in Middle English, it had various spellings such as emeraude, emeraundis, emerawd, or emraud. During Shakespeare’s time, forms like emrauld and emrold were commonly used. In the eighteenth century, emerald became the most popular form and is now widely used in literature. The word originated from Old French esmeraude, which is believed to come from an unrecorded Vulgar Latin word similar to smaraldus or smaraudus. These Latin roots can be traced back to the Ancient Greek words smaragdos or maragdos, which were used to describe both the gemstone and malachite, as well as dark green colors. It is theorized that maragdos is derived from the Proto-Semitic word bariq, meaning “lightning” (with the initial b becoming a nasal sound and the q changing to a g), reflecting the connection between brightness and both lightning and gemstones. The evolution of spelling throughout its history is truly fascinating!
