rank it, as did their forefathers, below the blood-red stone of Burmah.
Though
the diamond and other similar stones supposed to be diamonds, were
known and treasured for several thousand years B. C. in India and
neighboring countries, it was comparatively unknown in Europe before
the invasion of India by Alexander the Great, 327 B. C. Returning
Greeks brought knowledge of the diamond to Europe, and their leaders
doubtless brought some of the precious stones also. From Greece they
were carried to Rome by war and commerce, so that during the first
century they are mentioned by Roman poets and historians in their
writings.
The
English name for the stone and the French " dia-mant" are synonymous
with " adamant" from the Greek "adamas"—untamable — the unconquerable.
It is derived from the Greek a.—" un " and damas— " tame." The
name was Latinized as Rome superseded Greece as a world-governing
power, into " diamas," and established with slight variations by
medieval writers in the vernacular of the various European nations;
originally as " aimant " and " ayment " in France, and " die-mant "
and " dernant " in Germany.
The
word is apparently more ancient than a knowledge of the stone in
Europe, and was probably attached to the stone because it conveyed an
idea of the gem's quality of invincible hardness. In the writings of
some of the Ancients, the word signified a hard metal or weapon, and it
was also used as a personal name. As the stone, which could rend any
other thing and withstood all others, came to be known in Greece and
Rome, the word in their language which carried an idea of its
