adamas

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈa.da.maːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.da.mas]^[1]

Forms

adamās m (genitive adamantis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀδάμας (adámas, “unconquerable; adamant”).^[2][3][1] The Greek word is either from ἀ- (a-, “not”) and δαμνάω (damnáō, “to tame, conquer”), or of Semitic origin.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short say Virgil was the first to use it, of the solid adamant columns at the gate of Tartarus.^[5][2] Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In myth it was the hardest of all substances, adamant, perhaps hard steel, and in poetry anything unbending or lasting.^[2][5] From the early Empire it also named the diamond: Manilius says it is more precious than gold, and Pliny the Elder that it has the highest price of all.^[2]

In medieval British Latin it was the lodestone, the diamond, or a substance thought to combine both.^[6] Through a Vulgar Latin *adiamantem, altered by Greek words in dia-, it gave Old French diamant and English diamond in the mid-14th century, and also French aimant.^[7][1] English adamant is recorded at the same time.^[7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the columns at the gate of Tartarus.^[5][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder says the diamond fetches the highest price.^[2][4]
• mid-14th century – English adamant and diamond are recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mythology) adamant, the hardest substance; hard steel.^[2][5]
2. A diamond.^[2]
3. Anything unbending or lasting.^[5][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) A lodestone.^[6]

Word family

• adamantēus
• adamantinus

Related words

• English adamant
• English diamond

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com