GRGR (8) Mauve, Coal Tar & Seances, Part 1

[Michael D. Workman]

At 06:55 AM 8/20/99 PDT, you wrote:
>>In case anybody wasn't aware - Smaragd is the German word for emerald.
>which leads to The Emerald City in the WOZ?

emerald e.m<e>rald. Forms: 4-7 emeraud(e, -awd(e, emraud, (4 emeraund,
-rad(e, -royde, emmorant, 5 emerant, 6
amerand, emerode, emorade, emrade, -rode,) 7 hemerauld, emrald, -auld,
-old, (8 emerant), 6- emerald. a. OFr. emeraude,
esmeraude, esmeralde (Fr. émeraude); cf. Pr. esmerauda, Sp., Pg. esmeralda,
Ital. smeraldo:-Com. Romanic types
*smaralda, *smaraldo, repr. L. smaragdus, a. Gr. smaragdoj: see smaragdus.
The change of gd into ld in Romanic occurs in
other cases, as Ital. Baldacca for Bagdad. In Eng. the form with ld does
not appear in our quots. before 16th c., when it may
be due to Sp. influence.

1. A precious stone of bright green colour; in mod. use exclusively applied
to a variety of the Beryl species (see beryl sb. 2),
found chiefly in S. America, Siberia, and India.

In early examples the word, like most other names of precious stones, is of
vague meaning; the mediæval references to the
stone are often based upon the descriptions given by classical writers of
the smaragdus, the identity of which with our emerald
is doubtful. In the AV. (as previously by Tindale) emerald has been adopted
as the rendering of Heb. nophek (LXX. anqrac,
Vulg. carbunculus), a gem as to the nature of which there is no evidence.

2. Her. The name given by English heralds to the green colour (ordinarily
called vert) when it occurs in the arms of the nobility.

3. transf. as name of its colour; = emerald-green.

4. Printing. The name of the size of type larger than nonpareil and smaller
than minion.

5. attrib. and Comb. 


OR:

smaragdus

smaragdus smaræ;gdAs. Now rare. L., a. Gr. smaragdoj, first recorded in
Herodotus; the form maragdoj also occurs in
poets. The word is probably foreign to Greek, and connected with Skr.
marakata, marakta emerald. = smaragd. 

smaragd smæ;rægd. Now rare. Forms: <alpha>; 3-8 smaragde, 4- smaragd (6-7
smarag). <beta>; 6 smaradg, 6-7
smaradge. a. OFr. smaragde (more commonly esmaragde, esmeraude, -alde: see
emerald), or ad. L. smaragdus
smaragdus. Cf. MDutch and Dutch smaragd, MHG. smaragt (G. smaragd,
+schmaragd). A precious stone of a bright
green colour; an emerald. 


Cheers,

Michael Workman, Proprietor
Underworld Used Books
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