adamantinus Latin · revision 36506

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=grc ἀδαμάντινος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [a.daˈman.tɪ.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [a.daˈman.ti.nus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''adamantinus''' (feminine adamantina, neuter adamantinum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἀδαμάντινος|tr=adamántinos|t=of adamant, hard as adamant]],^(Wiktionary)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Köbler 2010) though the OLD analyses it as formed from [[m|la|adamās]] with the suffix [[m|la|-īnus]].^(OLD 2012) The Greek adjective is formed from [[m|grc|ἀδάμας|tr=adámas|t=unbreakable; adamant]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Lucretius,^(Köbler 2010) who speaks of ''adamantina saxa'', stones used to defying blows, which the OLD takes as diamonds.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The poets used it of the hardest metal of legend: Horace has Mars clad in an adamantine tunic and the adamantine nails that Necessity drives in, Propertius the adamantine yoke under which the Colchian woman drove the fire-breathing bulls.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder used it of a hardness like that of the diamond, and Apuleius of the firmness of walls.^(OLD 2012) L&S give the poetic sense “inflexible, invincible”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Christian writers have adamantine chains and an adamantine nail,^(Georges 1913) and Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “unconquered, unbreakable”.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval British writers used it literally and, figuratively, for something lasting.^(DMLBS) English adopted it about 1200 as [[m|en|adamantine]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius speaks of adamantine stones.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace dresses Mars in an adamantine tunic.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius writes of an adamantine yoke.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder compares a stone's hardness to the diamond's.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1200 – English borrows it as ''adamantine''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Made of [[m|en|adamant]] or steel, the hardest of substances; as hard as adamant.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Like [[m|en|diamond]];^(OLD 2012) ''adamantina saxa'', diamonds.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' [[m|en|inflexible|alt=Inflexible]], unbreakable, invincible.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|adamantine]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}