Ruby (Hastings' Dictionary)

Three Heb. words, oiit, nb-i;, and o-j'w, are tr. 'ruby' in EV (text or margin), but it ia doubtful whether this is tlie stone meant. 1. D-iN is tr. ' ruby ' in A Vm and RVm at Ex 28" 39'", Ezk '28'^. The text, in each case, has sardiuBi after the Vulg. sardius and the LXX (rapoiov. dim (from mx or dtx ' to be red ') would obviously be a suitable name for any red stone. There is nothing in it to help us in fixing on the special kind of gem. A similar ambiguity attaches to the cognate Assyr.

word adamntit, when used as a plant- name ; all that Fried. Delitzsch (Assyr. Hand- wiirterbuch, sub voce) feels justified in saying of it is that it is ' a plant, probably so called on account of its colour.' Pliny, too, presents the same kind of difficulty as we meet here ; his method ol naming stones according to their colours often leaves us uncertain which of them he has in view. Modem authorities are divided between the claims of the carnclian [Petrie makes it the red jasper ; see art.

Stones (Precious)] and the ruby to repre- sent the Heb. din, the majority favouring the former. Two considerations are in favour of this view : by far the largest number of gems whicli have come down to us from antiquity are carnelians ; and the DHN of Exodus was an engraved stone, whereas the ruby, on account of its hardness, was seldom en- graved in ancient times. 2. 1315 is tr. ' ruby ' by RV at Is 54'", Ezk 27" ; AV has ' agate,' m. ' Heb. chrysoprase ' ; LXX has lao-n-it (Is.)

and x^PXi^P (Ezek.) (from the common confusion of i and i) ; Vulg. iaypis and chodchud. It is impossible to determine what the "i3"!3 was. The root from which the noun is derived probably means ' to sparkle.' But this would suit a car- buncle almost, if not quite, as well as a ruby. 3. At Job 2S'«, Pr 3'^ [Kctkibk, by a transcriber's mistake, D-i?] 8" 20" 31"*, La i\ AV and RV tr. D'j-13 ' rubies ' ; RVm has ' red coral or pearls,' ex- cept at La 4', which has ' corals.'

The LXX is very vague and fluctuating, using \L6oi, \lSoi roXirreXeU, Tit, {auTara (Job 28'^) ; and the Vulg. is still more unhelpful, ' cnnctis pretiosissimis,'' ' c\m<;i\s opibus,' ' multitudo qemmarum,' ' de ultimis _/(ni6j«,' 'de occultis,' and at La 4' ' ebore antiquo.' (Toy, Prov. p. 72, appears to think that this last is due to a mistaken reading, c-i^n ; but it is to be noted that at Ezk 27'" the Vulg. renders D:j3ri \-j hy dentet hebeninos). Although □■}•}?

never occurs m a list of gems, the Heb. writers must have had a distinct class of stones in view. This is clear from La 4' : the colour of the human body could not be com- pared to that of precious stones in general. The same passage seems also to preclude the 'pearls' of our RVm. For if Carey (quoted by Delitzsch, Job, p. 370) had seen ' pearls of a slightly reddish tinge,' these are, at all events, not so common as to justify a comparison which would imply that pearls are usually red.

The clioice would appear to lie between 'ruby' and 'red coral.' And the decision depends on two considerations — the value and the colour of these two classes of objects. The passages in Job and Proverbs show that O'j'J? were costly. 'The price of wisdom is above D'j'i?. Either rubies or coral would answer to this require- ment. Rubies have always commanded a high price. Theophrastus speaks of quite a small ivBpai as being w'orth forty gold staters. Benvenuto Cellini, in the 16th cent.

, states that a ruby of one carat was worth eight times as much as a diamond of the same weight. A fine ruby will still fetch more than a diamond of the same size. But red coral {corallium rubrum) has also always been held in high esteem. In ancient times it wils KUDDER RUM AH 315 eagerly jnircliased in India. It finds a place in the Lapidarium of Marljodus. IJood specimens continue to command a lii<;li price in China.

The coral lisheries are a carefuUj* regulated and highly iuijiortant source of wealth on the Mediterranean coasts. On the second point — tliat of colour — the present writer is of opinion that the balance inclines in favour of the coral. Rubies are ot too deep and fiery a hue to be compared at La 4' to the red of even an Oriental's body, notwithstand- ing the fact that there are exceptional gems, such as the one King describes {Antimie Gems, p. 250), 'of the most delicious cerise colour.'

But coral is found of every shade — deep red, rose pink, tlesh colour, and even milky white. There is no dilH- cultv about the supposition that the Jews were familiar with it, for it was to be obtained from the coast of India and the lied Sea, as well as from the Mediterranean. J. Taylob.