Chrysolite

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Χρυσόλιθος (Strong'S #5555 — Noun Masculine — chrusolithos — khroo-sol'-ee-thos )

lit., "a gold stone" (chrusos, "gold," lithos, "a stone"), is the name of a precious stone of a gold color, now called "a topaz,"  Revelation 21:20 (see also   Exodus 28:20;  Ezekiel 28:13 ).

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(χρυσόλιθος,  Revelation 21:20)

In modern usage the name ‘chrysolite’ is applied to a transparent variety of olivine, used as a gem-stone and often called ‘peridot.’ The ancients applied the word to various yellowish gems. The Septuagintgives it as the equivalent of תַּרְשִׁישׁ, which Flinders Petrie ( Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iv. 620b) is inclined to identify with yellow jasper. The later Greeks gave the name chrysolite to the topaz, which was unknown in earlier times.

James Strahan.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Chrysolite. One of the precious stones in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem.  Revelation 21:20. It has been already stated, ( See Beryl . ), that the chrysolite of the ancients is identical with the modern oriental Topaz , or the tarhish of the Hebrew Bible.

King James Dictionary

Chrysolite n. A mineral, called by Hauy and Brongniart, peridote and by Jameson, prismatic chrysolite. Its prevailing color is some shade of green. It is harder than glass, but less hard than quartz often transparent, sometimes only translucent. It occurs sometimes in crystals, sometimes in small amorphous masses or grains, and sometimes in rolled pieces.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Chrysolite, Golden Stone. A precious stone of the quartz kind, whose prevailing color is yellow with a golden lustre. It is supposed to be the modern topaz.  Revelation 21:20.

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) A mineral, composed of silica, magnesia, and iron, of a yellow to green color. It is common in certain volcanic rocks; - called also olivine and peridot. Sometimes used as a gem. The name was also early used for yellow varieties of tourmaline and topaz.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

 Revelation 21:20 , a precious stone of a golden colour. Schroder says it is the gem now called the Indian topaz, which is of a yellowish green colour, and very beautiful.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A transparent precious stone, having the color of gold with a mixture of green, and a fine luster,  Revelation 21:20 . Many suppose it to be the topaz of the moderns.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Revelation 21:20 Ezekiel 1:16

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("gold stone".) The garniture of the seventh foundation of New Jerusalem. The modern topaz.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( Χρυσόλιθος , Golden Stone ) , the precious stone which garnished the seventh foundation of the New Jerusalem in John's vision ( Revelation 21:20); according to Schleusner, a gem of golden hue, or, rather, of yellow streaked with green and white (see Pliny 37:9, 42; Isidor. Orig. 16:14). It was called by some chrysophyllum ( Χρυσόφυλλον , Epiphan. De Geminis, 10). It was a name applied by the ancients to all gems of a golden or yellow color, but it probably designated particularly the topaz of the moderns (see, however, Bellermann, Urim et Thummim, p. 62). In the Sept. the word is employed for תִּרְשַׁישׁ , Tarshish', the "beryl" of our version ( Exodus 28:20;  Ezekiel 10:9). (See Beryl); (See Topaz).

What is usually termed chrysolite is a crystalline precious stone of the quartz kind, of a glossy fracture. In chemical composition it is a ferriferous silicate of magnesia. The prevailing color is yellowish-green, and pistachio-green of every variety and degree of shade, but always with a yellow and gold luster. There are two particular species of chrysolite: one, called the Oriental chrysolite, of a pistachio-green, transparent, and, when held up to the light in certain positions, often with a cherry-red shade; the other is the granulous chrysolite, of different shades of yellowish-green color, half transparent and nearly pellucid (see the Penny Cyclopedia, s.v.). (See Gem).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Chrys´olite. This word occurs only in in the enumeration of the stones which formed the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem. This stone is found solid, and in grains, or in angular pieces. The prevailing color is yellowish green, and pistachio green of every variety and degree of shade, but always with a yellow and gold luster. Although this stone is not mentioned in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament, it is supposed to be intended by the Hebrew word Tharshish, which occurs in;;;;;; , and is in all these places translated 'beryl.' The name Tharshish stone seems to intimate that it was known to the Hebrews as brought from the part so called. [TARSHISH]