Diamond rings abound in western culture. They are almost exclusively given as engagement gifts, and diamond rings are legally considered a conditional gift. Meaning, if the woman breaks off the engagement, the diamond ring is no longer considered her legal property.
Diamond rings have been around since time immemorial. In fact, diamonds are mentioned as one of the stones fixed on the Israelites’ desert tabernacle, and rings were also a major part of its construction. The idea to fix a diamond on a ring to make it a diamond ring, however, is not as old as the Bible.
The use of a diamond ring as an engagement present can be interpreted in many ways. Keeping in mind that any given diamond is between 1 billion and 3.3 billion years old, meaning up to three quarters of the age of the earth itself, a diamond ring symbolizes a belief in soul mates, that the couple was matched to each other before the beginning of time itself. The ring part of the diamond ring is more of an expression of ownership and responsibility, as derived from the Hebrew word for ring, which is taba’at.
That word is related to the verb for imprinting a seal, usually on a coin, which is litbo’a, and to the verb for a coin, which is matbe’a. Diamond rings, aside from having to be forged themselves, serve the function of imprinting a message on the woman that she is now taken, appropriate in monogamist societies.
As for the Hebrew for diamond in the diamond ring, it is yahalom, which is from the root helem, which means shock or trauma. With this in mind, diamond rings have the following meaning. First, for diamonds themselves, they had to go through the process of geological trauma in the Earth’s mantle to become what they are. Amazing that Hebrew understood that before the scientific revolution. Second, when putting a diamond ring on your beloved, you should know that the journey you are now embarking on will be full of trauma, but come out of it together and you will be a strong as a diamond.
