סַפִּיר

The word "סַפִּיר" (sapir) appears in the Bible as one of the stones in the breastplate (hoshen) worn by the High Priest (Exodus 28:18), in the second row. It also appears in descriptions of divine visions, for example in the Book of Ezekiel (1:26): "And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone." The word "sapir" is probably borrowed from the Akkadian "sapparu" and also appears in many other languages, including ancient Greek (σάπφειρος, sappheiros) and Latin (sapphirus), and from them came to modern European languages such as English (sapphire). In the Septuagint Greek translation, the word "sapir" was translated as "saphiros" (σάπφειρος), the source of the modern word "sapphire." However, it should be noted that the biblical "sapir" may have been lapis lazuli and not the modern sapphire, since ancient descriptions of the "sapir" speak of a stone speckled with gold, a description that fits lapis lazuli but not sapphire. In any case, in Modern Hebrew "sapir" is the accepted name for the blue gemstone called sapphire in English.