Stones │ lapidēs
Sand and gravel is stone broken
into bits. │ arēna, & sabulum, est lapis comminūtus.
A great
stone is a piece of a rock (or crag) │ saxum
est pars petræ (cautis).
A whetstone,
a flint, a marble &c are ordinary stones. │ cōs,
silex, marmor &c. sunt obscūrī lapidēs.
A load-stone
(lodestone) draweth iron to it. │ magnēs adtrahit ferrum.
Jewels are clear stones, as │ gemmæ sunt
pellūcidī lapillī, ut
The diamond white
│ adamās candidus,
The ruby red │ rubīnus rubeus,
The sapphire blue
│ sapphīrus cæruleus,
The emerald green
│ smaragdus viridis,
The jacinth yellow,
&c. │ hyacynthus lūteus, &c.
And they glister
being cut into corners. │ et micant angulātī.
Pearls and unions* grow
in shell-fish. │ margarītæ & ūniōnēs crēscunt in conchīs.
Corals, in a sea-shrub. │ corallia in
marīnā arbusculā.
Amber is gathered from the sea. │ succinum
colligitur ē marī.
Glass is like
chrystal. │ vitrum simile est c(h)rystallō.
*union (archaic):
a large, high-quality pearl
Vocabulary [1]
(h)arēna, -ae
[1/f]: sand; used to refer to any sandy place including, for example, the
location of combat in the amphitheatre > Engl. deriv. arena
sabulum, -ī [2/n];
sabulō, -ōnis [3/m]: coarse sand, gravel
cautēs, -is [3/f]:
rough / pointed rock or cliff, crag
cōs, cōtis [3/f]:
any hard stone, but specifically to a whetstone or grindstone
magnēs, magnētis
[3/m]: (obsolete) lodestone, referring to the mineral magnetite; magnet
obscūrus, -a, -um:
the usual meaning is ‘dark’ (Engl. deriv. obscure), but has a wider sense of
‘indistinct’ or ‘unknown’ i.e. there is nothing remarkable about the stones
described
pellūcidus, -a,
-um (or perlūcidus): transparent
Notes:
[i] a nice example
of the use of -ātus, -a, -um
angulō, -āre,
-āvī, -ātus [1]: to make angular
et micant angulātī
│ and, having been cut into corners, they glister; nice to see the
now archaic ‘glister’, made famous in the Shakespearean quotation: ‘all that
glisters is not gold’
micō, -āre, -āvī
[1]: gleam, glitter, twinkle; in Ancient Rome that’s what the stars do ….
sīdera micantia
/ stēllae micantēs: twinkling stars
[ii] The use of
the dative case with the adjective similis, -e: Glass is like /
similar to c(h)rystal. │ vitrum
simile est c(h)rystallō.
Vocabulary [2]:
gemstones
This is simply a
reference list; as mentioned above, these (and others) will be discussed more
in the next post:
gemma, -ae [1/f]:
jewel; precious stone
adamās, -antis
[3/m]: diamond
corallium, -ī
[2/n]: coral, usually referring to the reddish-orange variety
crystalum, -ī
[2/n]: crystal
margarīta, -ae
[1/f]: pearl
rubīnus, -ī [2/m]:
(Mediaeval) ruby
sapphīrus, -ī
[2/m]: sapphire
smaragdus, -ī [2/m] (also zmaragdus): emerald
succinum, -ī /
sūcinum, -ī [2/n]; glaesum, -ī [2/n]:
amber
Note:
hyacinthus, -ī
[2m]: jacinth; the stone can be of different colours, one of which is blue, and
the Romans referred to hyacinthus as a blue gem (hence the flower hyacinth),
which is distinct from sapphīrus, the latter specifically denoting a
sapphire
Some dictionaries suggest that hyacinthus may have referred to a sapphire, but let’s not complicate matters and keep the two separate.
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