Amber, succinite or jantar?
The names of precious and semi-precious stones have different origins, often they result from the characteristics of a given stone. Terminological complexities are also associated with our national treasure – Baltic amber.
The name succinite comes from the Latin word succinum meaning juice[1]. It was first mentioned in Pliny the Elder’s “Natural History”, written in the 1st century AD. “Our ancestors, too, believed that amber is the juice (Latin sucus) of trees, and for that reason called it succinum”[2]. In ancient Greece amber was called elektron – “the stone that attracts” – and also the stone “that comes from the Sun”. The term jantar has Finno-Ugric roots and is close to the Lithuanian gintaras (amulet). The Phoenicians, the ancient inhabitants of the south-eastern Mediterranean coast, called succinite jainitar, meaning sea resin[3].
The Polish name “bursztyn” comes from the German word Bernstein (meaning burning stone), because when lit it burns with a bright flame, smoking heavily and giving off a pleasant resinous smell[3]. Succinite is customarily named after the place where it is mined: Baltic amber (Poland, Russia, Lithuania), Saxon amber or Bitterfeld amber (Bitterfeld, Germany), or Ukrainian amber[1]. All the resins mentioned above share a common origin, often linked to a single parent tree, as well as properties and chemistry. These factors depend on the environmental conditions during the formation, sedimentation, deposition, diagenesis and transport of the resin nuggets. When the main fossil is mined in succinite mines, accompanying fossils are also found: gedanite, glessite and gedano-succinite. These resins differ from succinite in the features listed above[1].
Terminological intricacies are also associated with the word “amber”. In gemmological nomenclature it is accepted that the name is reserved for succinite, because it relates to the origin of amber, where it occurs (the Baltic Sea basin) and its chemistry. On the gemstone market, other fossil resins that share neither history nor chemical composition with succinite are also wrongly called amber, e.g. fossil resin from Borneo, Mexico or the Dominican Republic. The term is often even used for subfossil resins, such as African amber, which is actually copal from Tanzania or Congo[4].
In summary – each of the above names is correct. We can use the terms amber, jantar or succinite interchangeably. The only thing to be avoided is to call “amber” resins outside the Baltic Sea region.
Sources:
- Kosmowska-Ceranowicz, B., 2012. Amber in Poland and in the world. first edition edited by Warsaw: University of Warsaw Publishing House.
- Pliny the Elder, 1st century AD. Naturalis Historia. Book XXXVII edited by Rome:
- Heflik, W. and Natkaniec-Nowak, L., 2011. Gemmology. second edition edited by Kraków: Antykwa.
- Matuszewska, A., 2017. Amber mistakes, errors, imitations, forgery. Gems & Jewellery, Issue VII, pp. 22-31.
Author: Karolina Drąg
