cobalt English · revision 2362

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈkəʊ.bɒlt/, /ˈkəʊ.bɔːlt/, /ˈkoʊ.bɔlt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|de|Kobalt]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(RHWU) a variant of ''Kobold'' “goblin”,^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(RHWU)^(Etymonline) [[der|gmh|kobolt|t=household goblin]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) perhaps from ''kobe'' “hut, shed” and ''*holt'' “goblin”, from ''hold'' “gracious, friendly”, a euphemism for a troublesome being.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ores of the metal (1683).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995) Etymonline dates the word to the 1680s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Silver miners in the Harz Mountains believed that goblins had left this ore in place of stolen silver;^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD) it degraded the ore, and its arsenic and sulphur made the miners ill.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) The name passed from the ore to the metal extracted from it,^(OED 1989) which was isolated by the Swede George Brandt in 1733.^(Etymonline) Because its compounds had long been used to colour glass blue, the name was extended to a blue pigment and colour (1835).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Compare ''nickel'', also named after a goblin.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1683 – cobalt ores.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1776 – in combinations such as ''cobalt mine''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1835 – the blue pigment; cobalt blue.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1849 – adjective, cobalt-blue.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A hard, lustrous, silver-white magnetic metallic element related to iron and nickel, used especially in alloys and in blue pigments; symbol Co, atomic number 27.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Cobalt blue, a deep blue pigment or colour.^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cobaltic]]

+ * [[cobaltite]]

+ * [[cobaltous]]

+ * [[cobalt blue]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[kobold]]

+ * [[nickel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}