orichalcum

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word orichalcum. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word orichalcum, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say orichalcum in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word orichalcum you have here. The definition of the word orichalcum will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition oforichalcum, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin orichalcum, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὀρείχαλκος (oreíkhalkos), from dative singular of ὄρος (óros, mountain) + χαλκός (khalkós, copper).

Pronunciation

Noun

orichalcum (uncountable)

  1. A valuable yellow metal known to the Ancient Greeks and Romans; now sometimes interpreted as referring to a natural alloy of gold and copper, and sometimes treated as a mythical substance.
    • 2008, Jonathan Black, A Secret History of the World, Quercus, published 2008, page 162:
      Many walls were coated with metals – with brass, tin and a red metal, unknown to us, called orichalcum.

Alternative forms

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀρείχαλκος (oreíkhalkos).

Pronunciation

Noun

orichalcum n (genitive orichalcī); second declension

  1. yellow copper ore, or an alloy of gold and copper
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 12.87, (dactylic hexameter):
      Ipse dehinc auro squalentem alboque orichalco ./ circumdat loricam umeris, simul aptat habendo
      • 1910 translation by Theodore C. Williams
        But he upon his kingly shoulders clasped his corselet, thick o'erlaid with blazoned gold and silvery orichalch
    • c. 19 BCE, Horace, Ars Poetica 202, (dactylic hexameter):
      Tibia non ut nunc orichalco vincta tubaeque.
  2. a mythical mineral
  3. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin, poetic) brass (or brass objects)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter), singular only.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • English: orichalcum
  • French: orichalque
  • Italian: oricalco

Adjective

orichalcum

  1. inflection of orichalcus:
    1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
    2. accusative masculine singular

References

  • orichalcum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • orichalcum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • orichalcum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • orichalcum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • orichalcum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin