#6: Amethyst

Definition:

: a clear purple or bluish violet variety of crystallized quartz that is often used as a jeweler's stone

About the Word:

Amethyst was at one time considered able to ward off the effects of alcohol. The name of the stone comes from the ancient Greek word amethystos, 'remedy against drunkenness.'

Theophrastus, a student of Plato, opined that the stone was assigned these qualities on the sound scientific basis that both amethyst and wine are purple, and so should cancel each other out.

Amethyst is not the only sobering stone in the history of wine drinking: dionise (a rock named after Dionysus, the Greek god of wine) was likewise thought to prevent intoxication.