caput mortuum
English edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from Latin caput mortuum (literally “dead head”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
caput mortuum (uncountable)
- (alchemy) Worthless residue of sublimation or distillation.
- Cardinal purple, a variety of haematite iron oxide pigment.
- 2018, Kate Atkinson, Transcription, page 227:
- Were they working their way through the colours and now had reached the more abstruse layers of the spectrum? What would be next — caput mortuum, heliotrope? The colours of the day.
See also edit
Latin edit
Etymology edit
Literally, “dead head”. Figurative use from alchemical literature.
Noun edit
caput mortuum n (genitive capitis mortuum); third declension
- a dead man's head, a skull
- worthless residue, useless substance
- 1591 "Caput mortuum, ut est apud Paracelsum, sign. materias, quae sunt in fundo vasis chimici" (Antonio Ricciardo, Commentaria symbolica, p. 138)
- Cardinal purple, a variety of haematite iron oxide pigment
Declension edit
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem) with an indeclinable portion.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | caput mortuum | capita mortuum |
Genitive | capitis mortuum | capitum mortuum |
Dative | capitī mortuum | capitibus mortuum |
Accusative | caput mortuum | capita mortuum |
Ablative | capite mortuum | capitibus mortuum |
Vocative | caput mortuum | capita mortuum |
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from Latin caput mortuum.
Noun edit
caput mortuum c
- (alchemy) caput mortuum; residue
- 1771 June 15, “Lärda saker och rön. [Learned things and findings]”, in Stockholms vecko-blad[1], page 1:
- Caput mortuum ger och efter afbränningen något fast lut-salt.
- Caput mortuum gives and after burning some solid lye-salt.
- (colour) a brown-purple pigment, mainly of iron oxide
- Synonym: (dated) engelskt rött
- (colour) mummy brown; a reddish-brown pigment, made from ground mummy and resin
- Synonyms: egyptiskt brun, mumia, mumiebrunt