orichalcum

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin orichalcum, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ὀρείχαλκος (oreíkhalkos), from dative singular of ὄρος (óros, “mountain”) + χαλκός (khalkós, “copper”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɒɹɪˈkalkəm/

Noun

orichalcum (uncountable)

1. A valuable yellow metal known to the Ancient Greeks and Romans; now sometimes interpreted as referring to a natural alloy of gold and copper, and sometimes treated as a mythical substance.
   • 2008, Jonathan Black, A Secret History of the World, Quercus 2008, p. 162:

     Many walls were coated with metals – with brass, tin and a red ^[sic] metal, unknown to us, called orichalcum.

Alternative forms

• aurichalchum, aurichalcum, orichalch, orichalchum

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Latin

Alternative forms

• aurichalcum

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀρείχαλκος (oreíkhalkos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /o.riˈkʰal.kum/, [ɔrɪˈkʰäɫ̪kʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /o.riˈkal.kum/, [oriˈkälkum]

Noun

orichalcum n (genitive orichalcī); second declension

1. yellow copper ore, or an alloy of gold and copper

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 12.87, (dactylic hexameter):

     Ipse dehinc auro squalentem alboque orichalco ./ circumdat loricam umeris, simul aptat habendo

     • 1910 translation by Theodore C. Williams

       But he upon his kingly shoulders clasped his corselet, thick o'erlaid with blazoned gold and silvery orichalch

     c. 19 BCE, Horace, Ars Poetica 202, (dactylic hexameter):

     Tibia non ut nunc orichalco vincta tubaeque.

     c. 45 CE – 96 CE, Statius, Thebaid 10.660, (dactylic hexameter):

     Sphinx galeae custos, uisoque animata cruore / emicat effigies et sparsa orichalca renident.

2. a mythical mineral
3. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin, poetic) brass (or brass objects)
   • Late 4th century, Jerome [et al.], transl., edited by Roger Gryson, Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem (Vulgate), 5th edition, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, published 2007, →ISBN, Apocalypsis [Revelation] 1:15:

     Et pedes eius similes orichalco sicut in camino ardenti et vox illius tamquam vox aquarum multarum.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter), singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	orichalcum
Genitive	orichalcī
Dative	orichalcō
Accusative	orichalcum
Ablative	orichalcō
Vocative	orichalcum

Derived terms

• orichalcus

Descendants

• → English: orichalcum
• → French: orichalque
• → Italian: oricalco

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) orichalcum

1. inflection of orichalcus:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

References

• “orichalcum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “orichalcum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• orichalcum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “orichalcum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “orichalcum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin