adamas Latin · revision 5291

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Virgil|origins=grc ἀδάμας}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈa.da.maːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.da.mas]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''adamās''' ''m'' (genitive adamantis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ἀδάμας|tr=adámas|t=unconquerable; adamant]].^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) The Greek word is either from [[m|grc|ἀ-|tr=a-|t=not]] and [[m|grc|δαμνάω|tr=damnáō|t=to tame, conquer]], or of Semitic origin.^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lewis and Short say Virgil was the first to use it, of the solid adamant columns at the gate of Tartarus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In myth it was the hardest of all substances, adamant, perhaps hard steel, and in poetry anything unbending or lasting.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From the early Empire it also named the diamond: Manilius says it is more precious than gold, and Pliny the Elder that it has the highest price of all.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In medieval British Latin it was the lodestone, the diamond, or a substance thought to combine both.^(DMLBS) Through a Vulgar Latin *adiamantem, altered by Greek words in ''dia-'', it gave Old French ''diamant'' and [[en|diamond]] in the mid-14th century, and also [[fr|aimant]].^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) [[en|adamant]] is recorded at the same time.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the columns at the gate of Tartarus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder says the diamond fetches the highest price.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-14th century – English ''adamant'' and ''diamond'' are recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(mythology)'' [[m|en|adamant]], the hardest substance; hard steel.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|diamond]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Anything unbending or lasting.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|lodestone]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[adamantēus]]

+ * [[adamantinus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|adamant]]

+ * [[en|diamond]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}