γαγάτης

Forms

γαγάτης (gagátēs) m (genitive γαγάτου); first declension; usually with λίθος.^[1][2] Also γαγγῖτις or γαγγῆτις λίθος in Strabo, and ἐγγαγὶς πέτρα in Nicander.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek Γάγαι (Gágai), the name of a town and river in Lycia, with the suffix -της (-tēs), as Pliny already said.^[3][4][5][1] Chantraine calls this a normal way of forming such a name.^[4] Beekes adds that the forms with ⟨γαγγ-⟩, which show prenasalization, confirm an Anatolian (perhaps Pre-Greek) origin; the form in ⟨γαγγ-⟩ may also have been influenced by the adjective for “of the Ganges”.^[3]

It was borrowed as Latin gagātēs, the source of French jais and German Gagat.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dioscorides, in the 1st century AD, is among the first to name it; the stone is lignite, a hard black pitch coal.^[6][1][7]

Semantic evolution

Physicians used it: Dioscorides and Galen list it among their materials, and the DGP notes its healing properties.^[6][1][8] It also appears in the Orphic Lithica.^[1][2] Solinus, writing in Latin, uses the word for jet.^[1] A conjecture in Pseudo-Dioscorides makes it the name of a plant, the same as ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos).^[1][9]

Modern Greek keeps γαγάτης (gagátis) for a compact black lignite that can be worked for jewellery.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – Nicander calls the stone ἐγγαγίς (engagís) πέτρα (pétra).^[3][12]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides names it in his Materia medica.^[6][1][12]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it in his works on drugs.^[6][1]
• Modern Greek – γαγάτης (gagátis) names a black lignite used in jewellery.^[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lignite, a hard black pitch coal (with λίθος (líthos) understood).^[1][3][7]
2. Jet.^[1][4]
3. (botany) The same as ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos), a plant (a conjecture in Pseudo-Dioscorides).^[1][8]

Related words

• Latin gagates

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ a b Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
9. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
10. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
11. ^ a b Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge