Derivations of Mineral Names. 131 
uses the correct orthography, “sapphirus ;” as does Kentmann, in 
1565. 
ARSENIC.—The origin of this word is Gr. 4657», or, as the second 
of two ¢’s frequently changes to a o, dgoyv=L. mas, strong, mas- 
culine. By transposition the word dvy¢—=man, is formed from 
app», the one p being dropped. 
Homer uses dv7yo, 880 B.C., and, after him, all other writers. 
In Sophocles, however (497 to 406 B.c.), we still find dooyy, in 
the sense of strong; also in Aristophanes (412 B.c.). 
“xruro¢g ao6ny zovtov” (noisy, powerful sea), Sophocles. 
Theophrast writes d/evexov, about 300 B. c.; Galenus (A. D., 
181 to 202) employs àpøsv:xov, a poison. It is probabli that the 
older forms were used to designate a variety of strong poisons, min- 
eral or vegetable. 
Curiously enough, the form pey», without the lengthening ter- 
mination ¿xov, has survived in the G. Arsen, which signifies metal- 
lic arsenic. The Latinized form of àpøsvexov or dpaevexcov, which 
latter was used by Aristotle (384 to 322 B.c.), is arsenicum: whence 
G. Arsenik—i.e., arsenic oxide—O. Engl. arsenik (Pettus, 1683) 
and Engl. arsenic. 
Dramonp.—Derived from contr. Gr. a, privativum, and dapaw, 
I conquer=unconquerable. The name was originally given to hard 
steel and iron, and Hesiod uses it in this sense about 750 B.c, Since 
the days of Theophrast (about 300 B.c.) it has been applied to 
diamond. Gr., ddapac. 
The word enters Latin as adamas. “ Unde et nomen indomita 
quis Greca interpretationes accepit” (Pliny). Pliny claims that 
when laid upon an anvil and struck with a hammer, the adamas 
will cause the latter to recoil and will remain unharmed, if, indeed, 
it fail to burst either sledge or anvil: hence its name. Only by 
sprinkling upon it the blood of a male goat can it be reduced to 
such a condition that it will no longer withstand the heaviest blows.! 
In the middle of the sixteenth century the word was Dyamant 
in Germany; M. H. G., Diemant ; H. G., Demant and Diamant; 
It. and Sp., diamante ; Fr., diamant; O. Engl., diamaunt ; Engl., 
diamond. 
“ Haue harte as hard as diamaunt— 
Stedfast and naught pliaunt.”’ 
— Chaucer, 1340-1400. 
1“ Adamantem opum gaudium wr abe Has omni caeteri et inunctum 
sanguine hircino rumpente queque.’’—Pliny, Venice edition, 1559. 
