sardonyx

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English

Polished sardonyx

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sardonyx.

Pronunciation

Noun

sardonyx (countable and uncountable, plural sardonyxes)

  1. A gemstone having bands of red sard; a variety of onyx or chalcedony.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Revelation 21:20:
      The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
    • 1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 40:
      The large chalice at right is carved from a single chunk of sardonyx, a kind of onyx. Its gilded rim and base are decorated with tiny enamels depicting a host of popular saints, including Nicephorus (farthest left on rim), a Ninth Century patriarch and opponent of a religious movement to destroy icons.
    • 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XVI, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 151:
      I was wondering at these hanging gardens amid the forest of pink and white marble, red sardonyx, blue-gray, and cream, and black bricks, and green and yellow and tyrian tiles, when the sight of a lansquenet guarding the entrance to a casern reminded me of the promise I had made the officer of the peltasts the night before.

Translations

Further reading

Latin

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek σαρδόνυξ m (sardónux).

Pronunciation

Noun

sardonyx m or f (genitive sardonychos or sardonychis); third declension

  1. sardonyx

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant or non-Greek-type).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative sardonyx sardonyches
sardonychēs
Genitive sardonychos
sardonychis
sardonychum
Dative sardonychī sardonychibus
Accusative sardonycha
sardonychem
sardonychas
sardonychēs
Ablative sardonyche sardonychibus
Vocative sardonyx sardonyches
sardonychēs

Derived terms

Descendants

  • English: sardonyx
  • Italian: sardonice

References

  • sardŏnyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • sardonyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • sardŏnyx in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1,393/1.
  • sardonyx”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
  • sardonyx” on page 1,691/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)