onyx Latin · revision 35795

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=81/79–52/50 BC, Catullus|origins=grc ὄνυξ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɔ.nyks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔː.niks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''onyx''' ''m'' (genitive onychis or onychos); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is masculine, but feminine in Pliny the Elder and Martial.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ Manuscripts often spell it ⟨onix⟩, and sometimes ⟨honyx⟩.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ὄνυξ|tr=ónux|t=nail, claw; onyx]],^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) the stone being named after the colour of a fingernail.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler traces the Greek word to [[ine-pro|*h₃n̥gʷʰ-|t=nail, claw]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Catullus, of a jar of onyx that pours out welcome offerings of perfume.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word named a prized stone, probably a kind of marble: Pliny the Elder says it was once thought to grow only in the mountains of Arabia and was first made into drinking cups, Lucan and Martial have floors of onyx, and Statius a temple adorned with it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From the material it passed to a box or jar of onyx for ointments, as in Horace's “small onyx of nard” and in Propertius and Martial.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Pliny also uses it for a many-coloured gem, describing black Arabian onyxes with white bands, and for a kind of razor shell.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Medieval glossaries keep the Greek sense “fingernail” or “claw”, and medieval writers credited the gem with powers, such as disturbing sleep.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a jar of onyx holding perfume.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace mentions a small onyx box of nard.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the marble, of a gem and of a shellfish.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial writes of floors of onyx.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A prized stone, probably a kind of [[m|en|marble]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A box or jar of this stone, used for [[m|en|ointment|alt=ointments]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A many-coloured [[m|en|gem]], [[m|en|onyx]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A kind of [[m|en|razor shell]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A fingernail, claw or hoof.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[onychinus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[iasponyx]]

+ * [[perionyx]]

+ * [[sardonyx]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}