cuprum

Latin

Chemical element
Cu
Previous: niccolum (Ni)
Next: zincum (Zn)

Alternative forms

• cyprum

Etymology

From cyprium (“copper”), elliptical for aes Cyprium, Cyprium aes (literally “Cypriote copper”), after the large reserves of the metal found on the island of Cyprus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈku.prum/, [ˈkʊprʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈku.prum/, [ˈkuːprum]

Noun

cuprum n (genitive cuprī); second declension

1. (Late Latin) copper (the metal)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cuprum	cupra
Genitive	cuprī	cuprōrum
Dative	cuprō	cuprīs
Accusative	cuprum	cupra
Ablative	cuprō	cuprīs
Vocative	cuprum	cupra

Synonyms

• aerāmen

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: *cūbru, *cūbrum
  • Old French: cuivre, quivre, queivre, coivre
    • Bourguignon: cueuvre, cuvre
    • French: cuivre
    • → Breton: kouevr
  • Old Occitan:
    • Catalan: coure
    • Occitan: coire
  • West Iberian
    • Asturian: cobre
    • Old Galician-Portuguese:
      • Galician: cobre
      • Portuguese: cobre
    • Spanish: cobre
      • → Basque: kobre

Borrowings

• → Proto-West Germanic: *kopr (see there for further descendants)
• → Malay: kuprum
• → Romanian: cupru
• → English: copper
• → English: cupric
  • → Italian: cuprico

References

• “cuprum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cuprum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cuprum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.