Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker; the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used interchangeably.

[6] Carnelian was recovered from Bronze Age Minoan layers at Knossos on Crete in a form that demonstrated its use in decorative arts;[7] this use dates to approximately 1800 BC.

An 8th century BC carnelian seal from the collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford shows Ishtar-Gula with her dog facing the spade of Marduk and his red dragon.

The Oxford English Dictionary calls "carnelian" a perversion of "cornelian," by subsequent analogy with the Latin word caro, carnis ("flesh").

According to Pliny the Elder, sard derived its name from the city of Sardis in Lydia from which it came, and according to others, may ultimately be related to the Persian word سرد (sered, "yellowish-red").