ónix

Forms

ónix m or (less common) f^[1] The older forms are onyche (1629) and ónice; the 2001 Academy dictionary also lists ónique.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin onyx, a learned word that keeps the Latin nominative; the Latin is from Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux, “nail, claw”).^[1][5][2] The Greek word also named the gem, and Corominas explains the name by the stone's colour, like that of a fingernail.^[2][6] Beekes thinks the gem sense may come from the stone's nail-like white glaze, but does not rule out a foreign word reshaped by popular etymology.^[1]

The Greek noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ- (“nail”), the same root as Latin unguis (“nail”).^[1] Spanish uña, from the Latin diminutive ungula, is therefore a distant relative of the gem name, and the DCECH treats the gem name under that word.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The variant ónice is first recorded in 1629, as onyche, in Huerta's translation of Pliny, quoted by the Diccionario de Autoridades.^[2][6][3] The form ónix appears in a text from Potosí of 1636, which describes precious stones as opacas como el ónix “opaque like onyx”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Latin onyx was a much-prized stone, probably a kind of marble, used for floors and for drinking vessels.^[8][9] The Diccionario de Autoridades describes onyche as a dark kind of agate mixing white and black, brought from Arabia and India, and notes that Dioscorides calls it a kind of alabaster.^[3] Terreros gives onique as an opaque agate of white and black bands.^[10]

Domínguez, in 1846, defines ónix as a variety of chalcedony with whitish bands on a bluish ground, and records an anatomical sense, a membrane growing from the outer corner of the eye towards the cornea.^[11] The Academy's dictionary of 2001 treats ónix as a variant of ónice.^[12]

Timeline

• 1629 – onyche in Huerta's translation of Pliny.^[2][3]
• 1636 – ónix in a text from Potosí.^[7]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades has the entry onyche.^[3]
• 1846 – Domínguez defines ónix as a banded chalcedony.^[11]
• 1874 – ónice in a text from Peru, for black stones.^[7]
• 2001 – the Academy lists ónix, ónice and ónique as one word.^[12][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. onyx: a banded variety of agate or chalcedony with layers of different colours, used in jewellery; the same as ónice: Llevaba un anillo de ónix negro.^[12][13][1]

Related words

• ónice
• uña
• Latin onyx
• Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux)

Usage notes

Wiktionary gives ónix as masculine, less commonly feminine, while the Academy's 2001 dictionary and Moliner give it as feminine.^[1][12][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 715
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 40
4. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. ónique
5. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 517
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uña
7. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. ónice
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 709
11. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1289
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. ónix
13. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ónix