jasper

jasper¹ precious stone

Etymology

The stone is inherited from Middle English jaspre, also jaspe,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman jaspre,^[2][5][6][7] a variant with an unetymological -r- of Old French jaspe (12th century),^[6][8][9] from Latin iaspis (“jasper”),^[6][5][8] from Ancient Greek ἴασπις (íaspis, “jasper”).^[8][10] The OED compares Spanish jaspe, Portuguese jaspe and Italian iaspide.^[8] The Greek word is of eastern, Semitic origin,^{[8][9][11][5][10]} probably reaching Greek through Phoenician, according to Partridge;^[12] dictionaries compare a Hebrew name of a precious stone in Exodus and Arabic and Persian names of jasper.^{[8][5][4][13]} The American Heritage Dictionary suggests that it came perhaps through an Anatolian word such as Hittite yašpu- from a Semitic source, perhaps Akkadian yašpû, also ašpû, chalcedony, jasper, itself perhaps of Sumerian origin.^[2][10] In Medieval Latin, diasprus meant both jasper and diaper, whence Italian diaspro and diaspro for jasper.^[14][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A precious stone: about 1330, in Owayn, in the OED,^[8] about 1300 in Etymonline and probably about 1300 in Barnhart.^[6][5] In the ancient sense it named any bright-coloured chalcedony except carnelian, the most valued being green.^[8][15][11]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the modern word is narrower than the ancient one.^[6] Johnson (1755) still described jasper as a hard green stone, sometimes clouded with white, found in the East Indies, Egypt, Africa and China.^[16] Today it is an opaque, impure form of quartz, red, yellow, brown or dark green.^[17][4][15] Wedgwood's coloured stoneware, invented in 1775, was called jasperware;^[17] the OED records the short form jasper from 1825.^[8] A verb jasper, to be or make variegated like jasper, was used in 1620 and 1799,^[8] and English borrowed jaspé (“mottled like jasper”) in 1851.^[6] Revelation 21:18 reads, in the Revised Standard Version, "the wall was built of jasper".^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a precious stone.^[6][5]
• c. 1330 – a precious stone, in Owayn.^[8]
• 1620 – verb, to be variegated like jasper (obsolete).^[8]
• 1825 – Wedgwood's jasperware.^[8]
• 1851 – jaspé, mottled like jasper.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An opaque, impure form of quartz, usually red, yellow, brown or dark green, used as a gemstone and for ornament.^[17][4][8]
2. Jasperware, a hard stoneware invented by Wedgwood and coloured through its body.^[17][8]
3. Formerly, any bright-coloured chalcedony other than carnelian.^[8][15]

Word family

• jaspery
• jasperware

jasper² fellow

Etymology

The slang word for a fellow is a generic use of the male first name Jasper,^{[8][15][4][18]} the English form of Caspar or Gaspar, the traditional name of one of the Three Kings.^[6] Klein considered the name Persian, literally "treasure-holder".^[10][6] The English Dialect Dictionary notes that it was formerly a common Christian name.^[19]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rustic, a countryman: 1894, in a Boston newspaper's account of circus slang, where a countryman is "either a 'Rube' (Reuben) or a 'Jasper'".^[18] The OED's first quotation is of 1896.^[8][6]

Semantic evolution

In American slang the word came to mean any fellow, usually with contempt, and especially a rustic simpleton or hick.^[8][15][4] In English dialect Jasper was a name for Brighton fishermen in Sussex, and a louse in Lincolnshire.^[19]

Timeline

• 1894 – a countryman, a rustic.^[18]
• 1896 – a fellow; a rustic simpleton.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (US slang, often contemptuous) A fellow or guy; especially a country simpleton, a hick.^{[8][15][4][18]}