Garnet. (n) a gemstone, the birthstone for January. Garnets are named from the Old French, through Middle English. Grenat meant red like a pomegranate. Many garnets do in fact match the glistening red shine of the fruit, but there are also garnets that are not at all red, and vary in shade into green! Garnets have value as a gemstone, but they are not prized like rubies. In contrast to garnets, rubies are always reddish and their name is used in poetry from Chaucer to Shakespeare to evoke the beauty of women, in their lips and cheeks. Garnets are colder in literary temperature, matching January in the northern hemisphere.
