Carbuncle (gemstone)

A carbuncle /ˈkɑrbʌŋkəl/ is an archaic name given to any red cabochon cut gemstone. The name applied particularly to red garnet.^[1] The word occurs in four places in most English translations of the Bible. Each use originates from the Vulgate's Latin translation of the Septuagint's Greek term Anthrax - meaning coal, in reference to the color of burning coal; in this sense, a carbuncle is usually taken to mean a gem, particularly a deep-red garnet, unfaceted and convex. In the same place in the masoretic text is the Hebrew word נופח or nofech (no'-fekh); however, the Hebrew definition is less definite and the precise color of the gems is not known.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural references

• Exodus 28:17 and 39:10 both refer to the carbuncle's use as the third stone in the breastplate of the Hoshen.
• Ezekiel 28:13 refers to the carbuncle's presence in the Garden of Eden.
• Isaiah 54:12 (also see 3 Nephi 22:12 in The Book of Mormon) uses carbuncle to convey the value of the Lord's blessing [and promise to] His faithful barren woman servant: (KJV Is 54:1) "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child;") Her husband and Maker is God, "Thy Maker is thine husband." (Is 54:5 KJV)

• "And I will make thy her windows of agates, and thy her gates of carbuncles, and all thy her borders of pleasant stones."

• The gem is the stolen item in question in the Sherlock Holmes tale "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle."
• A carbuncle plays a mystic role in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, "The Great Carbuncle."
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare refers to carbuncles in act 2 scene 2 line 401:

  "With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus..."

• A fantastical animal called a carbuncle is mentioned in certain editions of Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings. It is described as a small, elusive animal that is hunted for the red gemstone in its head. This carbuncle appears today in certain fantasy-based roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Final Fantasy.
• Carbuncles are listed among the gemstones collected by Dorian Gray in Chapter 11 of the 1891 version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there is a monster card called the "Ruby Carbuncle" and it features a fairy like creature with a ruby colored gem.
• Carbuncle is the name and motif of the Wiseman Phantom in the 2012 & 2013 Tokusatsu series Kamen Rider Wizard, which is about mages using magical gemstones.
• The phrase "precious as carbuncles" is used several times in the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
• In Pokémon X and Y, a Pokémon called Carbink is based on a carbuncle.

References

Look up carbuncle in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.