opalus

Forms

opalus m (genitive opalī); second declension^[1] The TLL also records opallius, and manuscripts sometimes write oppal-.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios, “opal”),^[3][4][1] which Wiktionary assigns to Byzantine Greek.^[1] The OLD compares Sanskrit उपल (úpala-), and Wiktionary derives the Greek word from it, glossing it “gem, stone”;^[3][1] Etymonline calls this origin possible,^[5] while the TLL notes that an Indian source for the word is not proven, not even by Isidore.^[2]

Isidore of Seville said the stone was named after its homeland, because only India produced it;^[6] the TLL takes this as a confusion of two passages of Pliny.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Pliny the Elder, who treats the opal among precious stones in the 37th book of his Natural History and sets it apart from the beryls.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Pliny discusses its flaws and compares other stones with it,^[2] and the lapidary of Damigeron recommends it for the eyes.^[2] Isidore describes it as a stone marked with the colours of many gems.^[6][2] English used the Latin form in the late 14th century and took opal in the 1590s from French opalle and directly from Latin.^[5]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the opal and its flaws.^[3][2][7]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville describes it as a stone of many colours from India.^[6][7]
• late 14th century – The Latin form is used in Middle English.^[5]
• 1590s – English takes the word as opal.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A precious stone, the opal.^[3][8][4][9]

Related words

• English opal

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier