The noun υακινθος (huakinthos), refers to a gem, a hyacintus, but probably not to what we moderns call jacinth (which is a reddish semi-translucent gem) but rather something blueish or purplish (possible a modern sapphire). We don't exactly know because descriptions of this gem are scant and vague, but the gem appears to have been named after a flower, which is probably also not the modern hyacinth but rather something in the iris, gladiola or larkspur range (which are blue flowers).

More importantly, probably, is that both stone and flower were named after the mythological Hyacinth, a Spartan lad of astonishing pulchritude to whom the romantic affections of Greece's national deity Apollo inclined with great favor. One fateful day, Apollo and Hyacinth were throwing a discuss for sport. Apollo threw and Hyacinth was hit in the head and succumbed mortally wounded in the arms of his horrified lover. From his blood that dripped to the ground sprouted the flowers that would bear his name, and whose name in turn would pass onto the gem.

The names Apollo and Hyacinth are hugely old, much older than the Greek language, but, as we discuss in our article on the name Apollos, the name Apollo may actually have a Semitic origin, which was introduced into the European languages along with the alphabet (see our article on the many Hebrew roots of Greek). That said, the name Hyacinth contains the element "-inth", which we also find in plant-words like μινθη (minthe), mint, and αψινθος (apsinthos), wormwood, which both also probably derive from Semitic roots.

Then, the story of Apollo and Hyacinth very clearly makes use of familiar archetypes that also occur in the Hebrew Bible. The amorous aspect is emphasized in the story of David and Jonathan, who didn't throw a discuss but shot arrows to demonstrate a separation that capitalized in Jonathan's death on Mount Gilboa (and note the importance of the bow both to Apollo and David and Jonathan: 2 Samuel 1:17). Note that since David was married to Jonathan's sister Michal, they were actually brothers, whose tragedy is in some part informed by the fratricidal archetype of Cain's killing of righteous Abel, whose blood cried up from the earth to God and because of which God sent Cain away from his presence (Genesis 4:10). The name Cain derives from a verb that means to acquire or construct (see Genesis 4:1), and reflects an active and constructive nature. That same sort of activeness is reflected in the name Esau (from the verb עשה, 'asa, to do or make), whose nearly deadly rivalry with his brother Jacob sent the latter away (Genesis 27:41).

That said, the term אעשך ('e'eska) means "I will make you" or "I will do you", and is a common construction that occurs in Genesis 12:2 and Ezekiel 35:6, and may very well have inspired the name Hyacinth. Note that another name for Esau is Edom, which means red (the word for blood is דם, dam), but that does not necessarily mean that our noun υακινθος (uakinthos) refers to a red stone and flower. Apollo was a solar deity, and the Greek word for fire, namely πυρ (pur), could also denote the red glow of molten metal (hence the red color of the great dragon: Revelation 12:3). That means that Hyacinth as a complementary counterpart of Apollo would have been blue.

Also note that in mythology, stories are very often fractals with a broken symmetry: stories based on a familiar archetype but deliberately slightly different, or with a crucial detail reversed, precisely to make a point. Especially when such stories start to cross over into adjacent cultures, and yesterday's good guys become tomorrow's bad guys, such symmetries tend to break ostensibly.

Our noun υακινθος (uakinthos) occurs in Revelation 21:20 only, and from it derives: