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Philosopher's stone. The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1771. The philosopher's stone[ a] is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver [ b]; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder". Alchemists additionally believed that it could be ...
Page from the 1901 edition of Thomas Carlyle 's Sartor Resartus (1833–34) on which the proverb appears, marking its earliest usage in English. " Speech is silver, silence is golden " is a proverb extolling the value of silence over speech. Its modern form most likely originated in Arabic culture, where it was used as early as the 9th century.
Thus many words in the list below, though originally from Persian, arrived in English through the intermediary of Ottoman Turkish language. Many Persian words also came into English through Urdu during British colonialism. Persian was the language of the Mughal court before British rule in India even though locals in North India spoke Hindustani.
To others, it's a shapeshifter, said Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, which analyzes and consults on color, including for the folks who made this year's "The Color ...
Gold was a highly regarded precious metal (as in other cultures), but was occasionally avoided due to its association with the sin of the golden calf. [9] Silver was associated with moral purity, as silver metal must be refined from its ore. [10] Brass symbolized hardness, strength, and firmness. [11] Brass was a substitute for gold, and iron ...
Amethyst. Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek αμέθυστος amethystos from α- a-, "not" and μεθύσκω ( Ancient Greek) methysko / μεθώ metho ( Modern Greek ), "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness. [ 1]
The word sardion has sometimes been called sardonyx. This is a mistake, for the same word is equivalent to carnelian in Theophrastus (De lap., 55) and Pliny (Hist. nat., XXXVII, xxxi), who derive the name from that of the city of Sardes where, they claim, it was first found. The carnelian is a siliceous stone and a species of chalcedony.
It most often occurs as a native metal, typically in a metal solid solution with silver (i.e. as a gold/silver alloy). Such alloys usually have a silver content of 8–10%. Electrum is elemental gold with more than 20% silver, and is commonly known as white gold. Electrum's color runs from golden-silvery to silvery, dependent upon the silver ...