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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɒɹɪˈkælkəm/

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, published 2008, page 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

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.

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.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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

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