ἀρσενικόν

Of Semitic origin (compare Classical Syriac ܙܪܢܝܟܐ (zarnīḵā, “orpiment”)) under the strong influence of ἀρσενικός (arsenikós, “male, virile”), from Middle Persian *zarnīk, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“yellow”). See arsenic for more cognates.

• ἀρσενίκιον n (arseníkion), ἀρρενική f (arrhenikḗ)

ἀρσενῐκόν • (arsenikón) f (genitive ἀρσενῐκοῦ); first declension

1. (mineralogy) orpiment, yellow sulfide of arsenic
2. arsenic (chemical element 33) (later meaning, not attested up to the 5^th c. CE)

Only the meaning "orpiment, arsenic sulfide" is attested in classical sources; the later shift to "arsenic metal" is found in the period of late Koine Greek to early Byzantine Greek, when σανδαράχη (sandaráchi, “realgar (initially)”) begins referring to both realgar and orpiment (red and yellow arsenic sulfides).

• Greek: αρσενικό (arsenikó)
• → Latin: arrenicum
• → Latin: arsenicum (see there for further descendants)

• “ἀρσενικόν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ἀρσενῐκόν • (arsenikón)

1. inflection of ἀρσενικός (arsenikós):
   1. masculine accusative singular
   2. neuter nominative/accusative/vocative singular