adamant English · revision 1631

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈæd.ə.mənt/, /ˈæd.ə.mænt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun came into Middle English [[der|fro|adamant|t=diamond; magnet]],^(AHD)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) from [[la|adamās]] (accusative ''adamantem'') “the hardest metal, diamond”,^(AHD)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|grc|ἀδάμας|tr=adámas|t=the hardest material; unconquerable]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) The Greek word is perhaps from ''a-'' “not” and ''damân'' “to tame, conquer”,^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)^(Barnhart 1995) though Etymonline notes that it may be a foreign word reshaped by folk etymology.^(Etymonline) Old English had the word as ''athamans'', but the modern form is a fresh borrowing.^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[diamond|alt=Diamond]] is a variant of the same word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English used it of a legendary rock of extreme hardness (885).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995) The modern noun dates from the mid-14th century.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Since antiquity the name has been applied loosely to very hard substances: steel, emery, and above all the diamond.^(Etymonline) Medieval writers also identified it with the lodestone or magnet,^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995) perhaps through confusion with Latin ''adamare'' “to love passionately”.^(Etymonline) An adjective meaning “hard, unbreakable” appeared in the late 14th century,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) and the figurative sense of “unyielding” is recorded by the 1670s.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) Merriam-Webster dates the adjective in this sense to 1897.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 885 – a fabulously hard stone.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1366 – identified with the lodestone or magnet.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1393 – identified with the diamond.^(OED 1989)

+ * late 14th century – adjective, hard and unbreakable.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1670s – figurative adjective, unshakeable in belief.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Refusing to change one's mind; stubbornly [[unyielding]] and not open to persuasion.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Too hard to cut, break or pierce.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A legendary stone once believed to be impossible to break.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # Any extremely hard substance.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[adamantly]]

+ * [[adamance]]

+ * [[adamantine]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[diamond]]

+ * [[tame]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Random House gives ''inflexible'', ''rigid'' and ''uncompromising'' as synonyms, and ''flexible'', ''easygoing'' and ''yielding'' as antonyms.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}