Etymologically
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adamas

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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

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