metallicus

Forms

metallicus (feminine metallica, neuter metallicum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μεταλλικός (metallikós),^[2][3] from μέταλλον (métallon, “metal, ore”).^[3] Wiktionary, Georges and Gaffiot treat it instead as formed within Latin, from Latin metallum (“metal”) + -icus.^[1][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Celsus, who says that some plasters are made from metallic substances (“emplastra … ex quibusdam metallicis fiunt”), meaning made of metal.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.^[6] Scribonius Largus has eye salves made from metallic substances,^[7] and Pliny the Elder uses it both as an adjective and, as a noun, for the miners who wash the sands.^[2][6][4] The jurists used metallicus for a convict condemned to the mines,^[2][4][8] and Callistratus speaks of metallicum opus, mine labour.^[2][8] In Cassiodorus it is a worker in stone.^[5][1] English took over the adjective as metallic.^[3]

Timeline

• 14–37 AD – Celsus speaks of plasters made from metallic substances.^[2][9]
• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it of eye salves.^[7][9]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of miners.^[2][4][9]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a convict condemned to the mines.^[4][8][9]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it of a stone worker.^[5][9]
• 528–534 AD – The Code of Justinian uses it of miners.^[4][5][9]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as metallic.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or made of metal, metallic.^[2][6][5]
2. Of or belonging to the mines.^[2][8]

Noun

1. A miner.^[2][6][5]
2. A convict condemned to work in the mines.^[2][4][5]
3. (Late Latin) A worker in stone.^[5][1]

Related words

• metallārius
• metallifer
• metallum

Usage notes

Chalcidius uses the feminine metallica as a noun for metallurgy.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de