Elementymology & Elements Multidict

memory peg	Reddish brown metal which oxidizes to form a green oxide melting point 1083 °C; 1982 °F boiling point 2567 °C; 4653 °F density 8.96 g/cc; 559.35 pounds/cubic foot
Known to the ancients
χαλκος κυπριος (chalkos kuprios) = metal from Cyprus (Greek)

The discovery of Copper goes back to prehistoric times. Estimates of the earliest use of Copper vary, but 5000 BC is not unreasonable. Gold was probably the first metal to attract man's attention because of its sparkling yellow color, and Iron in the form of meteorites may have been used before Copper in some localities.

By about 3500 BC Copper was being obtained in the Middle East by charcoal reduction of its ores, and by 3000 BC the advantages of adding Tin in order to produce the harder bronze was appreciated in India, Mesopotamia and Greece. This established the "Bronze Age", and copper has continued to be one of man’s most important metals.

The earliest recorded use of copperware in India has been around 3000 BC the findings at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, bear this out. The earliest documented observation of smelting of metals in India is by Greek historians in the 4th century BC.
Copper has been mentioned in the Periplus as an article of export from India. In those days Copper ore was extracted in a big way and it was smelted locally in South India and Rajputana, according to the Periplus Maris Erythreae, a maritime geography of the east-west trade, written in about the first century AD.

In his biography of the charismatic teacher and miracle worker Apollonius of Tyana (first century AD), the Greek biographer Lucius Flavius Philostratus of Lemnos (c. 170-c. 245) gives a detail account of Apollonius's journey to India. In the town of Taxila, the capital of the kingdom Hinduš (or Indus-country) he mentions a shrine, in which were hung pictures on Copper tablets representing the feats of Alexander and Porus. In his own words, "The various figures were portrayed in a mosaic of Orichalcum, Silver, Gold, and oxidised Copper, but the weapons in Iron. The metals were so ingeniously worked into one another that the pictures which they formed were comparable to the productions of the most famous Greek artists."

In astrology alchemy the seven heavenly bodies known to the ancients were associated with seven metals also known in antiquity:

Sun (Sol)	Gold (Aurum)
Mercury (Mercurius)	Mercury (Hydrargyrum)
Venus	Copper (Cuprum)
Moon (Luna)	Silver (Argentum)
Mars	Iron (Ferrum)
Jupiter	Tin (Stannum)
Saturn	Lead (Plumbum)

 

In ancient India Copper was also known as Tamara, Copper plate was called Tamara-Patra. Tamrakar meant a Copper smith and Tamara-pana meant a Copper coin.

The long history of Copper is reflected in the many different words for this metal. See the list of names to the left and in the overview of Copper in over 100 languages (click here).

We can identify at least seven different roots. The main European branches of the Indo-European language (except Slavic) use derivations from the Latin cuprum.

In Japanese, the character 銅 is pronounced as "dou". But another widely used pronunciation is "akagane" ("aka" = red, "kane" = money, metal, or gold).

A peculiar website from Lavian-American Andis Kaulins, Indo-European Afro-Asiatic Words for Metals - Copper Lead Tin Iron Bronze Gold Amber. I am not sure what to think of the value of his unorthodox information, but give it for what it is worth. Kaulins presents the following list for Copper:

Sumerian KAxUD.BAR (or) UDxKA.BAR (or) SI.BAR
Latvian VARsh, dim. VARinsh
Lithuanian VARias
Old Prussian WARgien
Latvian SVAR- < *sa-VARS "weight"
Akkadian SIPARRU Hebrew SEPER
Arabic SIFRun
Latin KUPRUM
Sumerian URUDU ? ("copper, copper colored?)
Latvian RUDU- "copper colored"
Latvian  RUDVARIS (var. RUDU VARA )

And similar lists for Iron, Tin, and Lead. In examining all of these ancient terms for these metals, Kaulins sees that all names have two basic roots as their origin:
(1) "bar, var, par". Indo-European for "to smelt, boil" (Latvian var).
(2) "dzel, zil", meaning "yellow, gold, blue, dark blue, shiny" (Latvian zil).
According to Kaulins, the Latin Cuprum is not derived from Cyprus, but the other way round: the name Cyprus comes from the word for Copper.

• Mary Elvira Weeks, Discovery of the Elements, comp. rev. by Henry M. Leicester (Easton, Pa.: Journal of Chemical Education, 1968), pp. 18-29.
• Grant Duff, Ancient India's Contribution to Production Technology and Mechanical Engineering. 1997. (on-line)
• S. Srinivasan and S. Ranganathan, Metallurgical Heritage of India (on-line).
• James B. Calvert, "Copper, Silver and Gold" 2002 (on-line).