Etymologies & Works 16 part 2/3

for the Indian kind has little sparks of fire encircled by white zones, whereas the Arabian is black with white zones. There are five kinds of it. The sardonyx is named from the joining of two names; for it is made of the whiteness of the onyx and of the sard. It consists of three colors: below black, in the middle white, above vermilion. This alone, when used for sealing, carries off no part of the wax. It is found among the Indians and Arabs, laid bare by the torrents. There are five kinds of it. The haematites is blood-red, and therefore called haematites; for 'haima' means blood. The principal kind is produced in Ethiopia, but it is also found in Arabia and in Africa. Concerning it the magi promise something for exposing the ambushes of barbarians.

Amber, which the Greeks call 'elektron,' of a tawny and waxen color, is said to be the sap of a tree, and for that reason to be called sucinum (amber). Fabulous invention gave it the name electrum. For when Phaethon had been slain by a stroke of lightning, his sisters, changed by grief into poplar trees, are said to pour forth amber in their tears every year beside the river Eridanus; and many poets have said it was called electrum because the sun was named Elector. But it is agreed that it is not the sap of the poplar, but of the pine tree; for when kindled it gives off the fragrance of pine-torch. It is born in the islands of the northern Ocean like gum, and thickens like crystal by cold or by time. From it, for the sake of adornment, are made the necklaces of country women.

It is called by some 'harpaga,' because, having received the breath of heat by the rubbing of the fingers, it snatches up leaves and chaff and the fringes of garments, just as the lodestone snatches iron. It can be dyed in whatever manner one pleases; for they are stained with the root of alkanet and with purple dye. The lyncurius is so called because it is made from the urine of the lynx-beast, hardened over time. It is, like amber, tawny, drawing to itself by its breath the leaves that come near. IX. ON PURPLE GEMS.

Among the purple gems the Indian amethyst holds the first place. The amethyst is purple with a violet color mingled in, and has as it were the sheen of a rose, and gently gives off certain little flames. Another kind of it descends toward the hyacinths. They give as the reason for its name that there is something in its purple that is not entirely fiery, but has the color of wine. It is easy to carve: there are five kinds of it. The sapphire is blue with purple, having little golden grains scattered in it; the best is found among the Medes, though nowhere transparent. The hyacinth is named from the flower of its own name. It is found in Ethiopia, having a blue color. The best is that which is neither too rare nor dulled by density, but shines from a tempering of both and glows with purple;

but this does not glow uniformly. For in clear weather it is transparent and pleasing; in cloudy weather it vanishes and withers before the eyes; put into the mouth it is cold; in carving it is very hard, yet not unconquerable. For it is engraved and sealed with the diamond. The iacinthizon is Indian and nearly resembles the hyacinth. But some of them, resembling crystal, are darkened by little threads running through them; and from this defect of theirs comes their name. The amethystizon is so called because its outermost little flame passes into the violet of the amethyst. The chelidonia is named from the color of swallows; and it is of two kinds, one of which is purple on one side, and another is purple with black spots interspersed.

The cyanea, a gem of Scythia, glitters with a blue brilliance, pure, and sometimes varied with little golden dust-specks flashing within it. The rhoditis is rose-colored, and from this it received its name. X. ON WHITE GEMS. The pearl is the first of the white gems, which they say is called 'margaritum' because this kind of stone is found in the shells of the sea; for a small pebble is born within the flesh of the shellfish, just as a little stone is in the brain of a fish. It is produced from a heavenly dew, which the shellfish drink in at a certain time of the year. Of these pearls, some are called 'uniones' (unique ones), having a fitting name, because only one, never two or more, is ever found together. But the white pearls are better than those which grow yellow.

For either youth or the gathering of the morning dew renders those white; whereas age or the evening air produces these dark. The paederos is the second after the pearl among the white gems. Concerning it there is a question in what color it ought to be reckoned, its name having been so often applied to alien beauties, to such a degree that the prerogative of comeliness has been made into a word. The asterites is white, containing an enclosed light like a star moving within, and it gives back the whitening rays of the sun; whence also it got its name. The galactitis is milky, which when rubbed gives off a white juice with the taste of milk; bound upon nursing women it makes the breasts fruitful; hung too from the neck of infants it is said to produce saliva, but in the mouth it melts away and takes away memory.

The rivers Nile and Achelous send it forth. There are some who call an emerald encircled with white veins a galactites. The chalazias exhibits the whiteness and shape of hail, and also an unconquerable hardness like the diamond; even placed in fire it keeps its own coldness. The solis gemma (sun-gem) is white, and drew its name from the fact that it scatters rays like the appearance of the sun shining in its orb. The selenites shines through with a white and honey-like brilliance, containing the image of the moon; and they report that, following the course of the star itself, it diminishes and increases day by day. It is born in Persia. The cinaedia is found in the brain of the fish of the same name, white and oblong. They say that by these are foretold the signs of the sea, whether of calm or of storm.

The Bel's eye (Beli oculus), whitish, encircles a black pupil shining with a golden brilliance from the middle, and on account of its appearance it was dedicated to Belus the king of the Assyrians; whence also it was named. It is called epimelas when in a white gem the color grows black on top; whence too it has its name. The exebenus is beautiful and white, with which goldsmiths polish gold. XI. ON BLACK GEMS. The achates (agate) was first found in Sicily beside a river of the same name, and afterwards in very many lands. It is black, having in the middle black and white circles joined and varied, like the haematites. The magi, by the fumigation of these, if one believes it, turn aside storms and stop rivers. The apsyctos is black and heavy, marked with reddish veins. When heated by fire it keeps its warmth for seven days.

The aegyptilla is black at the root, blue in appearance, named from Egypt where it is found. The media is black, said to have been discovered by that fabled Medea. It has veins of a bronze color; it gives off the sweat of saffron and the taste of wine. The Veientana is an Italian gem, found at Veii, black in appearance with white flecks glinting through it. The bariptos is black with blood-red and white markings. The mesomelas has a black vein cutting through the middle of whatever color. The 'hair of Venus' (Veneris crines) is of a most black luster, containing within itself the appearance of red hair. The trichrus from Africa is black, but gives off three juices: at the root black, in the middle blood-red, at the top of the color of ochre. The dionysia, black with reddish markings mixed in, when ground with water gives off a fragrance of wine, and by its odor is thought to resist drunkenness.

The pyritis is indeed black, but by rubbing it burns the fingers. XII. ON VARIEGATED GEMS. The panchrus is variegated, consisting of nearly all colors; whence also it is named. The olca, of a barbarian name, is of tawny and black and green and white. The mithridax, when struck by the sun, glitters with varied colors. It is produced in Persia. The drosolithus is variegated. The reason for its name is that, if it is applied to fire, it sends off as it were a sweat. The opalus is distinguished by the color of diverse gems. For in it there is a thinner fire of the carbuncle, the shining purple of the amethyst, the glowing greenness of the emerald, and all shining together alike under a certain variety. It has its name from its homeland; for India alone brings it forth.

The ponticae are named from Pontus, of a diverse kind, now glinting with blood-red, now with golden droplets; some having stars, others streaked with long lines of colors. The hexecontalithos, in a small size, is many-colored; whence too it adopted this name for itself. For it is sprinkled with so diverse markings that sixty colors of gems may be discerned in its little disc. It is born in Libya among the Troglodytes. The murrina is produced among the Parthians, but the finest in Carmania. They think it is moisture thickened under the earth by heat; whence too it took its name. Its variety turns to purple and whiteness and fire, with certain reflections of colors such as are seen in the rainbow of heaven. The opposite cause makes crystal, when it is congealed by a more violent frost. XIII.

ON CRYSTALLINE GEMS. Crystal is resplendent and watery in color. It is handed down that it is snow hardened into ice over the years; whence too the Greeks gave it its name. It is produced in Asia and Cyprus, chiefly in the northern Alps, where not even in summer is the sun found at its hottest; and therefore that long and aged hardness gives rise to this kind which is called crystal. Set opposite the rays of the sun, it so seizes their flame that it gives fire to dry fungi or leaves. Its use is also destined for drinking-cups; but it can endure nothing except what is cold. The Indian adamant (diamond) is a small and unlovely stone, having an iron-gray color and the splendor of crystal, and it is never found larger than the size of a hazelnut kernel.

This yields to no material, not even to iron or to fire, nor does it ever grow hot; whence also it received its name, which by Greek interpretation means 'unconquerable force.' But although it is the unvanquished scorner of iron and fire, it is broken when steeped in the fresh and warm blood of a he-goat, and thus it is shattered by many blows of iron. Sculptors use its fragments for engraving and boring gems. But it is so at odds with the magnet-stone that, placed next to it, it does not allow iron to be drawn off by the magnet, or, if a magnet brought near has seized the iron, the diamond snatches it away and carries it off. It is reported also, like amber, to detect poisons, to drive away vain fears, and to resist maleficent arts. There are six kinds of it.

The chalazias has the whiteness and shape of hail, and the hardness of a diamond. Even placed in fire it keeps its own coldness. There are two kinds of ceraunia (thunderstones). One, which Germany sends, is like crystal, yet shines with blue, and if it is placed under the open sky, it seizes the brilliance of the stars. The other ceraunium Spain produces on the Lusitanian shores, whose color is of a reddish fire-red (pyropus), and its quality like fire. This is said to be of help against the force of thunderbolts, if we believe it. It is called ceraunia because it is found nowhere else than in a place close to where lightning has struck; for in Greek lightning is called 'keraunos.' The iris is born in Arabia in the Red Sea, of a crystalline color, six-sided, named from the argument of the rainbow (iris).

For struck by the sun under a roof it reproduces the appearance and colors of the heavenly bow on the nearest walls. The astrion is from India, close to crystal, in whose center a star shines with the brilliance of a full moon. It took its name because, set opposite the stars, it seizes their brilliance and casts it back. The electria, as it were 'alectoria': for it is found in the little stomachs of roosters, of crystalline appearance, the size of a bean. By this the magi wish men to be made invincible in contests, if we believe it. The enhydros is named from water; for it exudes water, so that you would think a spring's welling was enclosed within it. (XIV. ON FIERY GEMS.) Among all the burning gems the carbuncle holds the first place. The carbuncle is so called because it is fiery like a live coal, whose brilliance is not overcome even by night;

for it so shines in the darkness that it flashes flames at the eyes. There are twelve kinds of it, but the more excellent are those which seem to glow and, as it were, to pour forth fire. The carbuncle in Greek is called 'anthrax.' It is produced in Libya among the Troglodytes. The anthracitis is so called because it too is of a fiery color like the carbuncle, but girded with a white vein; and its peculiarity is that, thrown into the fire, it is extinguished as if dead, but on the contrary, when drenched with water it blazes up. The sandasirus is born among the Indians, in a place of the same name. Its distinctive feature is that golden droplets shine within it as if in transparent fire. It is agreed among all that, the greater the number of stars, so much the greater also is its price.

The lychnis is of the same class of burning gems, named from the blaze of lamps; it is produced in many places, but the most approved among the Indians. Some have said it is a fainter carbuncle. Its face is twofold: one which radiates with purple, another with the redness of scarlet. Warmed by the sun or by the rubbing of the fingers, it is said to draw to itself chaff and threads of paper; it resists engraving, and if it is ever engraved, while it takes the impress of the seals, it retains part of the wax as if by some animal's bite. There are four kinds of it. The carchedonia is said to do the same as the lychnis, though much cheaper than those mentioned. It is born among the Nasamones by rain, as they say, divine: it is found by the reflection of the full moon. But all its kinds resist engraving.

The alabandina is named from Alabanda, a region of Asia, whose color approaches that of the carchedonia, but is rare. The dracontites is dug out from the brain of a dragon. Unless it is cut from the living creature, it does not turn to a gem; whence too the magi cut it from sleeping dragons. For bold men explore the caves of dragons, scatter there drugged herbs to induce the dragons' sleep, and thus, when they are lulled by slumber, they cut off their heads and draw out the gems. They are of a translucent whiteness. The kings of the East especially glory in their use. The chrysoprasus is Ethiopian; light conceals this stone, darkness reveals it. For by night it is fiery, by day golden. The phlogites is from Persia, displaying within itself as it were seething flames which do not come out.

The syrtitis is so called because it was first found on the shore of the Syrtes. In part of Lucania its color is saffron, containing within faint stars, glinting again beneath a cloud. The hormiscion is seen among the most pleasing, radiant with a fiery color, bearing gold with it, having at its edges a white light. XV. ON GOLDEN GEMS. There are certain kinds of gems named from the appearance of metals or stones. The chrysopis seems to be only gold. The chrysolithus is like gold with a resemblance to the color of the sea. Ethiopia produces it. The chryselectrus is like gold, but inclining to the color of amber, pleasing only in the morning aspect, most greedy of fire, and, if it is nearby, very quickly catching fire. The chrysolampis is named from gold and fire;

for it is golden by day, and fiery by night. Ethiopia produces it. The ammochrysus, mixed with gold in its sands, has now little squares of gold-leaf, now of gold-dust. It is produced in Persia. The leucochrysus is of a golden color with a white vein running between. The melichrysus is so called because this gem shines through as if through pure gold, like honey. The chrysocolla is produced in India, where ants dig up gold. It is like gold and has the nature of a magnet, except that it is said to increase gold; whence also it is named. The argyrites is like silver, having golden spots. The androdamas has the luster of silver and is almost a diamond, always squared like dice.

The magi think the name was imposed on it because it is said to tame and restrain the impulses or angers of the mind, if we believe it. It is produced in the Red Sea. The chalcitis is of a bronze color. The chalcophonos is black, but when struck against a stone gives back the ringing of bronze. The balanites: there are two kinds, greenish and like Corinthian bronze, with a fiery vein cutting through the middle. The sideritis differs in nothing from the appearance of iron. However it may be brought into malefic practices, it stirs up discords. The Idaean finger (Idaeus dactylus) is from the island of Crete, of an iron color. The reason for its name is that it represents a human thumb. The Ethiopicus is of an iron color, which when rubbed emits a black juice.

The zmilanthis is gathered in the channel of the Euphrates, like Proconnesian marble, of a bluish-gray middle color, glinting within like the pupil of an eye. The Arabica is named from its homeland, ivory in appearance. The hephaestitis has the nature of a mirror in giving back images, although it is reddish. The test of it is if, added to boiling water, it at once cools it, or if, set in the sun, it kindles dry material. It is born in Corycos. The ostracites is stony in color, harder than earthenware. The other kind is like agate, except that agate grows glossy with polishing. Such is the force of its hardness that other gems are engraved by its fragments. The glossopetra is like a human tongue; whence too it took its name: it is said to fall from the sky when the moon is waning. To it the magi attribute no small power;

for they think that by it the movements of the moon are stirred up. There are also certain kinds of gems named from animals: the echites reproduces the markings of a viper; the carcinia has the color of a sea-crab; the scorpitis represents a scorpion in both color and shape; the myrmecitis imitates the figure of a crawling ant; the taos is like a peacock; the hieracitis is of the color of a hawk, the aetitis of an eagle; the aegophthalmos is like a goat's eye; the lycophthalmos is of four colors: from red it turns blood-red, in the middle it encircles a black with white, like the eyes of wolves; the meconites represents the poppy. There are also certain gems which the pagans use in certain superstitions. They say that the liparea, when burned, calls forth all beasts. By the anancitis they say the images of demons are called forth in water-divination.

They say that by the synochitis the summoned shades of the underworld are held fast. The chelonitis is the eye of the Indian tortoise, variegated and purple. The magi are feigned to say that, placed upon the tongue, it foretells the future. The brontea is from the head of tortoises; it is thought to fall from thunder, and to quench the strokes of lightning. The hyaenia is a stone found in the eyes of the hyena-beast; and if it is placed under a man's tongue, they say he foretells the future. But the coral too is said to resist storm and hail. The pontica is a certain gem, translucent with a livid hue, having red stars, and sometimes golden ones too. They say that by it one interrogates demons and puts them to flight.

In certain kinds of gems there is great difficulty in distinguishing the true from the false, since a way has been found of transferring from the true kind of one into another false one; as the sardonyxes, which are cemented from three gems in such a way that they cannot be detected. For they fabricate them from a diverse kind: with black, white, and vermilion color. For in place of the most precious stone, the emerald, some by art stain glass, and a certain false greenness deceives the eyes deceitfully, so long as there is no one to test the counterfeit and expose it; and so with other stones in one way and another. Nor is the life of mortals without any fraud. But all gems that are not translucent are called blind, because they are darkened by their own density. XVI. ON GLASS.

Glass is so called because it shines through with clearness to the sight. For in other metals whatever is contained within is hidden; but in glass any liquid or object shows outwardly just as it is within, and in a way, though enclosed, lies open. Its origin was this. In a part of Syria which is called Phoenicia, bordering on Judaea, around the roots of Mount Carmel there is a marsh, from which rises the river Belus, flowing into the sea over a space of five miles near Ptolemais, whose sands are washed clean of impurities by the rushing torrent. Here the story is that a ship of merchants of niter was driven ashore, and when they were preparing their meals scattered along the shore, and there were no stones for propping up their vessels, they placed lumps of niter from the ship beneath them;

and when these were kindled, the sand of the shore mingled with them, and streams of a new translucent liquid are said to have flowed forth: and this was the origin of glass. Soon, as skill is ingenious, it was not content with niter alone, but strove to season this art with other mixtures also. For it is cooked with light and dry woods, with copper and niter added, and in continuous furnaces, as bronze is melted, and lumps are made. Afterwards from the lumps it is melted again in workshops, and one part is shaped by blowing, another turned on a lathe, another chased like silver. It is also dyed in many ways, so that it imitates hyacinths and sapphires and green stones and onyxes or the colors of other gems; nor is there any material more suited for mirrors or more fitting for painting.

Yet the greatest honor is in white glass, and the next in its likeness to crystal; whence glass has driven out the metals of silver and gold for drinking. Formerly it was made also in Italy, and throughout the Gauls and Spain, from a very white and very soft sand ground in a mortar and mill. Then it was mixed with three parts, by weight or measure, of niter, and, when melted, was poured over into other furnaces, and this mass was called ammonitrum; and this, recooked, became pure and white glass. Among the kinds of glass the obsidian stone (obsianus) is also numbered. It is sometimes green and sometimes black, and occasionally translucent, thicker to the sight, and in wall-mirrors giving back shadows instead of an image; from it they make many gems.

They relate that this stone is born both in India and in Italy and by the Ocean in Spain. They report also that under Tiberius Caesar a certain craftsman devised a tempering of glass so that it was flexible and ductile. When he had been admitted to Caesar, he held out a bowl to Caesar, which the emperor, indignant, threw down onto the pavement. But the craftsman picked up the bowl from the pavement, which had crumpled together like a bronze vessel; then he drew a little hammer from his bosom and straightened the bowl. When this was done, Caesar said to the craftsman: 'Does anyone else know this recipe for glass?' After the man, swearing an oath, denied that another knew it, Caesar ordered him to be beheaded, lest, once this became known, gold should be held as worthless as mud and the prices of all metals should be brought to nothing;

and indeed, because if glass vessels did not break, they would be better than gold and silver. XVII. ON METALS. Metal is called in Greek 'para to metallan,' because its nature is such that, where one vein has appeared, there is hope of seeking out another. There are seven kinds of metals: gold, silver, bronze, electrum, tin, lead, and, that which subdues all things, iron. XVIII. ON GOLD. Gold (aurum) is named from 'aura,' that is, from splendor, because it shines more when the air is reflected upon it. Whence Vergil (Aen. 6.204): 'Then from there through the branches shone the varicolored gleam of gold,' that is, the splendor of gold. For it is natural that the splendor of metals shines more when reflected by another light. Hence too are called 'aurarii' (goldsmiths), whose luster it renders splendid.

Refined gold (obryzum) is so called because it beams with splendor (obradiet); for it is of the best color, which the Hebrews call 'ophaz,' and the Greeks 'kirron.' 'Brattea' is the name given to the thinnest leaf, from 'brematou,' which is an onomatopoeia of a crackling sound, or from 'bratun,' a leaf. Money (pecunia) formerly took both its character and its name from cattle (pecudes); for coins were cut and stamped from the hides of cattle. Afterwards a bronze coin was invented by Saturn; for he it was who established that coins should be stamped and inscribed. For this reason too the treasury (aerarium) was consecrated to Saturn by the pagans. Others, as above, called money 'pecunia' from cattle (pecudes), just as beasts of burden (iumenta) are named from aiding (iuvando). For among the ancients all patrimony was called 'peculium' from cattle (pecudes), in which their whole substance consisted;

whence too he who was rich was called 'pecuarius' (cattle-owner), but now 'pecuniosus' (moneyed). The most ancient men, gold and silver not yet having been discovered, used bronze. For bronze money was first in use, then silver, and afterwards gold followed; but from that with which it began it also retained its name. Whence too the treasury is called 'aerarium,' because at first only bronze (aes) was in use, and it alone was stored away, gold and silver not yet being coined; and although money was later made from those metals, yet the name of 'aerarium' remained from that metal from which it took its beginning. The treasure (thesaurum) is named according to the Greek property, from 'apo tes theseos,' from placing, that is, from what is stored away. For 'thesis' means a placing, and it is a name composed from Greek and Latin speech.

For the Greeks call what is stored away 'thes,' the Latins 'aurum' (gold), which joined together sounds 'stored-away gold.' 'Auraria' (a gold-mine) has its name from gold. But tributes (tributa) are so called because they were formerly exacted through each tribe (tribus), just as now through each territory. For it is agreed that the Roman people was divided into three parts, so that even those who presided over the individual parts were called tribunes; whence too the expenses that the peoples gave they named tributes. Excise-taxes (vectigalia) are tributes, named from carrying (vehendo). The soldier's pay (stipendium) is named from weighing out coin (stipe pendenda); for the ancients were accustomed to weigh out money rather than to count it. Coinage (moneta) is so called because it warns (monet) that no fraud be committed in the metal or in the weight.

A coin (nomisma) is a solidus of gold or silver or bronze, which is therefore called 'nomisma' because it is stamped with the names (nominibus) and effigies of rulers. Formerly the coin was called 'argyros,' because it was struck for the most part from silver. But coins (nummi) were named from Numa, king of the Romans, who first among the Latins marked them with images and inscribed them with the title of his own name. 'Folles' are named from the little bag (sacculus) in which they are stored, the container being named from the contained. In a coin three things are sought: the metal, the figure, and the weight. If any of these is lacking, it will not be a coin. There are three kinds of silver and gold and bronze: stamped, wrought, and unwrought. Stamped is that which is in coins; wrought, that which is in vessels and figures; unwrought, that which is in ingots;

which is also called 'grave' (heavy), that is, an ingot. Metals came to be known in their forms in this way: for while burning forests, by whatever chance, baked the earth, which, its veins being heated, poured out streams of whatever structure—whether it had been bronze or gold—when it ran down into the lower places of the earth, it took the figure into which either the flowing stream or the receiving hollow had shaped it. Captivated by the splendor of these things, men, when they lifted up the solidified masses, saw in them impressed traces of the earth; and hence they contrived that things melted down could be brought into any form. XIX. ON SILVER. Silver (argentum) is not far distant from its Greek name; for they call it 'argyron.'