JACINTH jā’ sĭnth, a gem variety of the mineral zircon (zirconium silicate), now almost universally referred to as hyacinth (q.v.). It is transparent and generally red in color; sometimes it is orange or brownish. Jacinth (hyacinth) is not a common mineral. It occurs, together with other zircons, in the gem gravels of Ceylon, but many gem stones called hyacinth are deep orange-brown colored garnets (cinnamon-stone or hessonite). The term hyacinth prob. was used by ancient writers to refer to a blue mineral and NEB gives blue and turquoise (q.v.), respectively, in Revelation 9:17 and 21:20 where KJV gives jacinth. Ligure (q.v.) referred to in KJV (Exod 28:19; 39:12) is given as jacinth in RSV, with a marginal alternative of amber (q.v.) and as turquoise in NEB.