### The Origin and Mystique of Diamonds
The word “diamond” is derived from the Greek word “adamas,” meaning indomitable and invincible, aptly describing the hardest natural substance on Earth. This is also related to the Latin verb “adamare,” which means to love passionately.
The Greeks believed that diamonds were the tears of the gods, while the Romans thought they were shards from the stars. Interestingly, many stars have diamond cores. The largest known diamond in the universe weighs 2.27 thousand trillion tonnes or 10 billion trillion carats, equivalent to 179 trillion double-decker buses.
Diamonds are formed deep within the Earth under extreme heat and pressure. They are pushed to the surface at incredible speeds by volcanic eruptions. These gems were created long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and some are even older than the stars. The youngest diamonds are nearly a billion years old.
As the hardest natural substance known to humankind, diamonds are 58 times harder than the next hardest mineral on Earth. The only material that can scratch a diamond is another diamond.
A diamond over one carat in weight is extraordinarily rare, occurring once in every million diamonds. If you were to gather all the diamonds ever polished since the beginning of time, they would only fill one double-decker bus.
Discover the timeless allure and indomitable beauty of diamonds, nature’s ultimate masterpiece.