smaragdine

English

WOTD – 31 January 2013, 31 January 2015

Etymology

From Latin smaragdinus, from Ancient Greek σμάραγδινος (smáragdinos), from σμάραγδος (smáragdos). See emerald for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sməˈɹæɡdiːn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡdiːn
• Hyphenation: sma‧rag‧dine

Noun

smaragdine (uncountable)

1. Emerald.
   • 1814, G. Booth, The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian‎^[1], volume 1, translation of original by Diodorus Siculus, page 143:

     The smaragdine and beryl, (as they are called), which are found in the copper-mines, are said to have their colour from their mixture with sulphur: and that the chrysolite, produced by the heat of thesun, receives its tincture from a hot and fiery exhalation.

   • 1833, John Brown, A Dictionary of the Holy Bible‎^[2], Stones, page 484:

     […] others green, as the emerald, smaragdine, and beryl; others bluish, as the sapphire and turquois; others purple-coloured, as the amethyst.

   • 1997, H. Stanley Redgrove, Alchemy Ancient and Modern (Facsimile Reprint)‎^[3], page 40:

     In a work attributed to Albertus Magnus, but which is probably spurious, we are told that Alexander the Great found the tomb of Hermes in a cave near Hebron. This tomb contained an emerald table — “The Smaragdine Table″ — on which were inscribed the following thirteen sentences in Phœnician characters: —

Translations

emerald — see emerald

Adjective

smaragdine (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to emeralds.
2. Having the colour of emeralds.
   • 1882 June 29, “Outside the Cars”, in Toledo Blade:

     Not even inspired vision ever saw sweeter fields arrayed in living green than these spangled meads which stretch out for miles on either side, and probably lead to "rivers of delight" just beyond those massive banks of beech and oaken and maple foliage, which frame the view in smaragdine opulence.

   • 1900, Frederick Rolfe, In His Own Image‎^[4], John Lane, pages 323–324:

     Under a smaragdine canopy of beeches, whose trunks, massive and fantastick, were sheathed in iron grey mail, the afternoon was warm.

   • 1999, Lynda Barry, Cruddy: An Illustrated Novel, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, pages 154–155:

     […] We will get the Hillbilly Woman very very high and she will lead us over the smaragdine mountain to a quiet pool where the Violent One awaits you."

   • 2007, Brite Templeton, Under Aldebaran, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 27:

     She did not squint not as the sun crept through the Venetian blinds and seemed to ignite her already-luminous smaragdine eyes.

Related terms

• smaragd

Translations

of or pertaining to emeralds

• Finnish: smaragdin- (fi)
• Swedish: smaragd-

having the colour of emeralds

• Armenian: զմրուխտագույն (hy) (zmruxtaguyn), զմրուխտե (hy) (zmruxte)
• Finnish: smaragdinvihreä (fi)
• Nahuatl: quetzalizpaltic
• Portuguese: esmeraldino (pt)
• Russian: изумру́дный (ru) (izumrúdnyj)
• Swedish: smaragdgrön (sv)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sma.ʁaɡ.din/

Adjective

smaragdine

1. feminine of smaragdin

Latin

Adjective

smaragdīne

1. vocative masculine singular of smaragdīnus