Elementymology & Elements Multidict |
Arsenicum Arsenic
Arseen – Arsen – Arsenic – Arsénico – ヒ素 – Мышьяк – 砷
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Multilingual dictionary
Indo-European
Arsenicum Latin Germanic
Arseen AfrikaansArsen Danish Arsen German Arsenic English Arsenikk Faroese Arsenikum Frisian (West) Arsen Icelandic Arsen Luxembourgish Arseen Dutch Arsen Norwegian Arsenik Swedish Italic
Arsén AragoneseAresenu Aromanian Arsénicu Asturian Arsènic Catalan Arsénico Spanish Arsenic French Arsenic Friulian Arsénico Galician Arsenico Italian Arsénich Lombard Arsenic Occitan Arsénic Portuguese Arsen Romanian - Moldovan Slavic
Арсен [Arsen] BulgarianArsen Bosnian Мыш'як [myš'jak] Belarusian Arzen Czech Arsen Croatian Arsén Kashubian Арсен [Arsen] Macedonian Arsen Polish Мышьяк [Myš"jak] Russian Arzén Slovak Arzen Slovenian Арсен [Arsen] Serbian Міш'як [miš'jak] Ukrainian Baltic
Arsenas LithuanianArsēns Latvian Arsens Samogitian Celtic
Arsenik Bretonársenig Welsh Airsnic, Arsnaig, Arsanaic Gaelic (Irish) Arsanaic Gaelic (Scottish) Arsnick Gaelic (Manx) Arsenyk Cornish Other Indo-European
Αρσενικο [arseniko] GreekԱրսեն [arsen] Armenian Arseni[k] Albanian Indo-Iranian/Iranian
Arsenik KurdishМышъяк [myš"jak] Ossetian Арсен [Arsen, ²Mysh'yak] Tajik Indo-Iranian/Indo-Aryan
আর্সেনিক [ārsenika] Bengaliآرسنیک [ârsnyk] Persian આર્સેનિકનો [ārsenikano] Gujarati आर्सेनिक [ārsenika] Hindi Finno-Ugric
Arseen EstonianArseeni Finnish Arzén Hungarian Еджыд из [Edčyd iz] Komi Наргӱмыж [Nargüməž] Mari Суляма [suljama] Moksha Arseen Võro Altaic
Arsen AzerbaijaniМышьяк [Myš"jak] Chuvash Мышъяк [myš"jak] Kazakh Мышъяк [Myš"jak] Kyrgyz Мишьяк [miš'jak] Mongolian Arsenik Turkish ئارسېن ['arsen] Uyghur Margimush Uzbek Other (Europe)
Artsenikoa Basqueდარიშხბანი [darišxbani] Georgian Afro-Asiatic
زرنيخ [zarnīkh] Arabicארסן [arsen] Hebrew Arsenik, ²Arseniku Maltese Sino-Tibetan
Sṳ̂n (砷) Hakkaヒ素 [hiso] Japanese 비소 [biso] Korean สารหนู [sānnū] Thai Asen Vietnamese 砷 [shen1 / san1] Chinese Malayo-Polynesian
Arsenico CebuanoArsen Indonesian Ateniki Māori Arsenik, ²Arsen Malay Other Asiatic
ആര്സെനിക് [ārsenikam] Malayalamஆர்செனிக் [ārcenik] Tamil Africa
Aseni LingalaArseniki Sesotho Aseniki Swahili North-America
Arsénico NahuatlSouth-America
Arsiniku QuechuaCreole
Arsenikumi Sranan TongoArtificial
Arseno EsperantoNew names
Arsenon Atomic ElementsWoodium Dorseyville |
History & Etymology
Arsenic has been known since Antiquity in the form of its sulphides. Aristotle (384-322 BC) makes reference to sandarach and his student Theophrastus of Eresos (370-286 BC) named it arhenicum. The oxide known as White Arsenic is mentioned by the Greek alchemist Olympiodorus of Thebes (5th century AD), also obtained it by roasting Arsenic Sulphide.
Strabo (Geography 12.3.40) tells us: "In [Pompeiupolis in Pontus] is Mt. Sandaracurgium ... which is hollowed out in consequence of the [arsenic] mining done there, since the workmen have excavated great cavities beneath it. The mine used to be worked by publicans who used as miners the slaves sold in the market because of their crimes; for, in addition to the painfulness of the work, they say that the air in the mines is both deadly and hard to endure on account of the grievous odor of the ore [red arsenic] so that the workmen are doomed to a quick death. What is more, the mine is often left idle because of the unprofitability of it, since the workmen are not only more than two hundred in number, but are continually spent by disease and death."In the 11th century the Persian alchemist Ibn Sina, Latinized as Avicenna (980-1036) wrote that there are three forms Arsenic, white, yellow, and red - and that the white is obtained from the other by sublimation:
It was not until 1649 that Johann Schröder (1600-1664) clearly reported the preparation of metallic Arsenic by reducing White Arsenic with charcoal. Thirty-four years later, Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715) also observed that metallic Arsenic was produced by heating White Arsenic with soap and potash.
Arsenicum is from Arabic al-zarnīkh; this in turn is borrowed via Aramaic from Persian zarnik, "gold-colored" > zar = gold. It refers without any doubt to the golden colour of arsenic's chief ore: Yellow orpiment, which was well known as a dye-stuff by the ancients. The word zarnīkh or zirnikhi was borrowed by the Greeks and converted into αρσενικον [arsenikon]. This happened to sound very similar to αρρηνικον [arrènikon] = masculine, powerful (from αρρην, αρσην [arrèn, arsèn] = male). Due to this coincidence, it expressed the powerful properties of arsenic as a poison.
Alternative names
Chemistianity 1873
FAYAN
ARSENIC, the fool and villain's poison, Is a Metalloid of steel gray colour, Crystalline, lustrous, and very brittle. It tarnishes in Water, and in Air, Unless they are freed from Carbonic Acid. Heated in Air it volatilises Without fusion, but with rapid oxidation And smell like garlic, to Arsenious Oxide Call'd in trade White Oxide of Arsenic. Further reading
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