The Ancient Romans knew and prized a wide variety of gemstones, both native to their empire and imported through vast trade networks stretching from, for example, India, Arabia and Egypt.
In Book XXXVII of The Natural History (Nātūrālis Historia),
Pliny the Elder describes more than 200 varieties of gemstone although not
always accurately. Here we will only look at a few nouns and adjectives that we
might want to use to describe our own possessions and, with that aim in mind, I
have given ‘standardised’ meanings of some of these (all of which are verified);
early references to certain precious stones may have been more general,
referring to the colour of certain types rather than an indication of the
specific gemstone with which their names are now associated.
gemma, -ae [1/f]: gem; jewel
- gemmātus, -a, -um: adorned with precious stones / jewels
… quod vulgō Sabīnī aureās
armillās magnī ponderis bracchiō laevō gemmātōsque magnā speciē ānulōs
habuerint (Livy) │ … because most of the Sabines wore heavy golden bracelets
on their left arms and magnificent jewelled rings, …
adamās, -antis [3/m]: diamond; its first meaning, however, is the hardest iron or steel
amethystus, -ī [2/m]: amethyst
- amethystinus, -a, -um: of the colour amethyst
Amethystināsque mulierum vocat vestēs (Martial) │ and calls amethyst-coloured
robes the dress of women
bēryllus (bērillus), -ī [2/m]: beryl; greenish-blue
gemstone; aquamarine
carbunculus, -ī [2/m]: reddish precious stone, possibly ruby
or garnet (the image shows a garnet ring); (Mediaeval) rubīnus, -ī [2/m]: ruby
crystalum, -ī [2/n]: crystal
corallium, -ī [2/n]: coral; it usually refers to the
reddish-orange variety
ēlectrum, -ī [2/n]; succinum, -ī / sūcinum, -ī [2/n]; glaesum, -ī [2/n]: amber*
sapphīrus, -ī [2/m]: sapphire; image: part of the collection
of the Earl of Arundel from 1637 to 1762, and sold at auction in 2019 by the
Royal jewelers Wartski for almost £500,000, the sapphire ring puportedly belonged
to the Roman Emperor Caligula, depicting his wife Caesonia.
- sapphīrinus, -a, -um
et vīdērunt Deum Isrāhēl sub
pedibus eius quasi opus lapidis sapphīrinī (Vulgate) │ They saw
the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a (paved) work of sapphire stone,
…
margarīta, -ae [1/f]: pearl
Et duodecim portae duodecim margarītae
sunt per singulās et singulae portae erant ex singulīs margarītīs:
et platēa cīvitātis aurum mundum, tamquam vitrum perlūcidum
(Vulgate) │ And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each
one of a single pearl, and the individual gates were made of a single pearl
/ individual pearls: and the great street of
the city was pure gold, just like transparent glass
onyx, onychis [3 m/f]: onyx
- onychinus, -a, -um
et aurum terrae illīus optimum
est ibique invenītur … lapis onychinus (Vulgate)│ and the gold of that
land is good, and the onyx stone … is found there
opalus, -ī [2/m]: opal
smaragdus, -ī
[2/m] (also zmaragdus): emerald
- smaragdīnus (zmar-), -a, -um
Celsus describing
a type of medical plaster:
At,
quia perviride est, zmaragdinum appellātur │ But, because it is bright
green, it (a plaster) is called emerald-like
topazos / topazus, -ī [2/m]; topazius, -ī [2/m]: topaz;
also:
- chrȳsolithos, -ī [2/m]; chrȳsolithus, -ī [2 m/f]
* The English term ‘amber’ itself is a very good example of displacement
i.e. where original Old English words are replaced – sometimes they are
‘reassigned’ to new or variant meanings, or sometimes they simply cease to
exist. OE had several words that could refer to amber: smelting, eolhsand,
glǣr,
sāp. In this case, they are not replaced by a Latin word, but by Middle
French a(u)mbre which has its origins in Arabic and Persian.
No comments:
Post a Comment