diamond

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈdaɪə.mənd/, /ˈdaɪ.mənd/, US /ˈdaɪ.ə.mənd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English diamaunt, borrowed from Old French diamant,^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin diamās, genitive diamantis,^[2][3][5] an alteration, influenced by the many Greek words beginning with dia-, of Latin adamās (“the hardest metal; later, diamond”),^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adámas, “unbreakable; a hypothetical hardest material”), a word of uncertain origin.^[2][6] It is a doublet of adamant.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The precious stone: before 1310 in the OED, about 1325 in Barnhart.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

According to Trench, the Greek word first meant the hardest steel and was transferred to the diamond in the writings of Theophrastus.^[6] In Middle English diamond also meant adamant, a substance of extreme hardness (about 1400).^[8] A person or thing of great worth is from the early 15th century.^[2][8] A figure with four equal sides and two acute and two obtuse angles is from the late 15th century,^[2] the playing card from the 1590s,^[2] and the glazier's diamond tool from 1697.^[8] In baseball the infield is the diamond by 1875, in American English.^[2][3] The advertising slogan A diamond is forever was used by De Beers from the late 1940s.^[7]

Timeline

• a. 1310 – the gemstone.^[8]
• early 15th century – a person of great worth.^[2]
• late 15th century – the geometric figure.^[2]
• 1590s – the playing card.^[2]
• 1875 – a baseball diamond.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A very hard, usually colourless form of carbon, used as a gemstone and in cutting tools.
2. A figure with four equal sides whose angles are not right angles; a rhombus.
3. A playing card marked with red diamond shapes, or the suit of such cards.
4. (baseball) The infield, or the whole playing field.

Verb

1. To decorate with or as if with diamonds.

Word family

• diamondlike

Related words

• demantoid
• adamant

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press