English

Noun

orichalcum ‎(uncountable)

1. A valuable yellow metal known to the Ancient Greeks and Romans; now sometimes interpreted as referring to a natural alloy of gold and copper, and sometimes treated as a mythical substance.
   • 2008, Jonathan Black, A Secret History of the World, Quercus 2008, p. 162:

     Many walls were coated with metals – with brass, tin and a red ^[sic] metal, unknown to us, called orichalcum.

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὀρείχαλκος ‎(oreíkhalkos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /o.riˈkʰal.kum/, [ɔ.rɪˈkʰaɫ.kũ]

Noun

orichalcum n ‎(genitive orichalcī); second declension

1. yellow copper ore
2. brass (or brass objects)
   • Vulgate Bible, Douay-Rheims Version, Revelation 1ː15

     et pedes eius similes orichalco sicut in camino ardenti et vox illius tamquam vox aquarum multarum

Inflection

Second declension.

Descendants

• Italian: oricalco

References

• orichalcum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• orichalcum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “orichalcum”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• orichalcum in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• orichalcum in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin