Earth & SkyGreek → English
Electrum
/ɪˈlɛktrəm/noun
A pale natural alloy of gold and silver, used for the world's first coins.
The Greek roots
ἤλεκτρον
ḗlektron
amber; gold-silver alloy
Literally: “the gleaming thing”
Follow a root:ἤλεκτρον14 words
The story of the word
Lydia struck coins from it around 600 BC, weighing lumps of river alloy into money. Greek used the one word for amber and for the alloy, since both shine the same pale yellow, and the word ties back to ēlektōr, the beaming sun. In 1600 William Gilbert coined Latin electricus from it because rubbed amber pulls chaff, which is how a fossil resin named the current in your walls.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
electricityelectronelectrodeelectromagnet
In a sentence
The museum case holds four electrum staters, each stamped with a lion's head.