Etymologically
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sardonyx

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsar.dɔ.nyks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsar.do.niks][1]

Forms

sardonyx m or f (genitive sardonychos or sardonychis); third declension[1] Pliny, Persius and Juvenal use it as feminine, Juvenal and Martial also as masculine.[2][3] Juvenal has the genitive plural sardonychum, and late writers have the accusatives sardonycem (Jerome) and sardonychen (Prudentius).[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σαρδόνυξ (sardónux).[4][1][5] The Greek word is a compound of σάρδιον (sárdion, “carnelian”), probably at first “stone from Sardis”, and ὄνυξ (ónux, “onyx”).[6][5] The name of the onyx is perhaps the same as the Greek word for a nail, from the stone's white glaze.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 1st century AD, in Pliny the Elder and in Persius, as the name of the precious stone.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning stayed that of the gem, the sardonyx, in Martial and Juvenal and in late writers such as Jerome and Prudentius.[2][3] The Vulgate has an adjective sardonychus, “of sardonyx”.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the sardonyx.[2][5]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius uses it as a feminine noun.[2][5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it as a masculine noun.[2][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has the adjective sardonychus.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Sardonyx, a precious stone.[4][2]

Word family

  • sardonychātus
  • onyx
  • English sardonyx

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b 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