Gemstone Names · Entry

Obsidian

Named after a person (Latin)

“named for Obsius (the spelling is likely a scribal alteration of Obsianus)”

Where it comes from

Obsius, a Roman traveler Pliny the Elder credited with discovering a similar stone in Ethiopia

Fun Fact

Obsidian is a volcanic glass, not a true mineral, formed when lava cools so quickly that its atoms have no time to arrange into a crystal structure.

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