Earth & SkyGreek → English
Cinnabar
/ˈsɪnəbɑːr/noun
Mercury sulphide, a brilliant red mineral and the source of the pigment vermilion.
The Greek roots
κιννάβαρι
kinnábari
red mineral, vermilion
Literally: “the red stuff called kinnabari”
Follow a root:κιννάβαρι1 word
The story of the word
The word is Greek but not Greek in origin; it looks like an eastern borrowing, and Persian and Semitic sources have both been argued without a winner. Pliny complained that traders used one name for two unrelated red goods, this ore and the plant resin called dragon's blood, and that painters were being cheated as a result. Roast the ore and the sulphur burns off, leaving mercury running out of the furnace, which is how Rome got its supply from convict labour at Almadén.
- How it travelled
- Eastern source → Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
In a sentence
The lacquer box is cinnabar red, layer on layer, then carved.
Cinnabar in the tomb paintings has darkened where the light reached it.