“We know that amethyst, ahlamah, is the wine stone its Greek name means 'charm against drunkenness'—and can be assigned to M, the vine month. Similarly, yellow serpentine, tarsis, naturally belongs to G, the yellow-berried ivy month. The banded red agate, sebo, belongs to C, the month before the vintage, when the grapes are still red. The white carnelian, yahalem, and the yellow cairngorm, lesem, may belong to the glaring hot D and T months; the blood-red carbuncle, kadkod, to S, the month of the razzia or raiding party; and the lapis lazuli, sappur, to H, the first month of summer, since it typifies the dark blue sky. Sappur is translated 'sapphire' in the Authorised Version, and Ezekiel mentions it as the colour of the Throne of God. The light green jasper, yasepheh, and the dark green malachite, soham, suit NG and R, the winter rain-months of Palestine. Nophek, the bright red fire-garnet, or pyrope, is likely to be F, the month of the Spring equinox. The rusty-red Edomite sard, odem, comes first in the year in honour of Adam, the red man—-for 'Edom', ‘Adam' and 'Odem' are all variants of the same word meaning rusty-red: odem belongs to the month B. The remaining two stones corresponding with L, the month of Hercules's golden cup, and N, the month of his sea-voyage, are pitdan, clear yellow chrysolite, and bareketh, green beryl-the name beryl meaning, in Greek, the sea-jewel.”
Robert Graves, The White Goddess
