the.com/emery
The sandpaper that decided it was a gemstone and nobody argued.
means A hard, gritty mineral (a form of corundum mixed with iron oxides) ground up and used as an abrasive for cutting, grinding, and polishing.
from From French émeri, from Old Italian smeriglio, tracing back to Greek smyris/smiris meaning 'polishing powder' — a word tied to the island of Naxos, long famous for its emery deposits. The 's' quietly dropped away as the word traveled through Romance languages before landing in English.
- actual material
- corundum plus magnetite, basically impure ruby dust
- old use
- polished armor and lenses before nail files existed
- name origin
- from Cape Emeri, a Greek island quarry
- fun irony
- too soft to scratch real sapphires or rubies