Earth & SkyGreek → English
Gypsum
/ˈdʒɪpsəm/noun
A soft sulphate mineral burnt to make plaster of Paris and pressed into plasterboard.
The Greek roots
γύψος
gýpsos
chalk, plaster
Literally: “plaster stone”
Follow a root:γύψος3 words
The story of the word
Γύψος is not native Greek: it was borrowed from a Semitic source, related to Arabic jibs and Akkadian gaṣṣu. The Greeks used it for the burnt powder as well as the stone. Gyp in gypsy has nothing to do with it, but the plasterer's gypsum sits behind every white wall in a modern house.
- How it travelled
- Semitic → Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
In a sentence
The quarry has been cutting gypsum for the plasterboard works since 1890.