n. A brown to colorless mineral, ZrSiO4, which is heated, cut, and polished to form a brilliant blue-white gem. [German Zirkon (originally in obsolete scientific German Zirkonerde, zirconium oxide, coined by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743-1817), who first isolated it from a jacinth), probably partly from Arabic zarqūn, minium, bright red (from Persian zargūn, gold-colored, from Middle Persian zargōn, golden : zarr, zar-, golden from Old Iranian, *zarna-; see ghel-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + gōn, color, from Old Iranian *gaona-; akin to Sanskrit guṇaḥ, string, thread, quality), and partly from European terms for "jacinth" such as French jargon (from Old French jargonce, ultimately from Latin hyacinthus; see HYACINTH).] |
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