28 Derivations of Mineral Names. 
first described, as to its properties, by Basil Valentine, near the year 
1400. 
Antimony, as a word, fails to comply with the Gr. r:e in all 
but the tim. That this should be sufficient to establish a connection 
cannot be claimed, but it indicates that both names may well have a 
common origin. It is possible that the first syllable, an, may be a 
modification of the Ar. article al, in which case the reference of the 
word to an Arabic origin would seem justified. An old Arabic 
name for Stibnite is al-kohl (whence our alcohol) ; but as this seems 
to refer to the powder, rather than to the crude mineral or metal, 
there may have been another root. The Ar. al-ithmidun is regarded 
as the source of antimony, the latter being a rather exaggerated 
corruption of the former. Another derivation brings it from the 
Ar. athimar, the name of the metal. (Const. Africanus, 1100.) 
A forced derivation is obtained from Gr. dyze, against, and M. 
L. monachos, monks. Basil Valentin, the monk, fed some 
antimonial compound to his pigs, and they grew fat upon it. He 
tried the same dose upon his cloister brethren, and they died: 
hence the supposed origin of the name. It remains a coincident 
that the French word for antimony introduces an i in antimoine, _ 
and that Fr. moine means monk. 
BismMuTH.—The origin of this word is not very clear. It was 
first used in Germany in the later middle ages. A common expla- 
nation assigns it to O. H. G. wesemot, contr. wese, meadow, and mot, 
damp ground, swamp; but, aside from the similarity of sound, 
there seems to be no relation between the two words. 
Another root has been claimed in the H. G. word Wiese, meadow, 
as some old writers claim that the colors which the metal assumes 
upon cooling after fusion are varied and beautiful as those of 
flowers on a meadow (sixteenth century). The metal is white, and 
often assumes iridescent colors after melting. 
During the sixteenth century German writers speak of it as Bis- 
mut, Bissmuth, Wyssmuth, and Wissmuth. At the same period its 
Latin mame was bisemutum (Agricola, 1546). This latter may 
be merely an amplification of the German term, or it may be com- 
posed of the L. words bis, twice, and emuto, I change, in allusion to 
the crystalline and color changes undergone upon fusion. About 
1400 the word was bismuthum. 
A more plausible explanation of its origin lies in the derivation 
from M. H. G. wiss or wyss, white, the color of the metal. There 
