elvan
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From a Cornish word,[3] perhaps Cornish elven, elvan (“spark”)[4][5] because the hard rock could be struck to spark fire.[6]
AdjectiveEdit
elvan (comparative more elvan, superlative most elvan)
- (mining) Of or relating to certain veins of feldspathic or porphyritic rock crossing metalliferous veins in the mining districts of Cornwall.
- an elvan course
NounEdit
elvan (plural elvans)
Etymology 2Edit
Variation of elven (or elfin,[3] which see for more) influenced by -an.
AdjectiveEdit
elvan (comparative more elvan, superlative most elvan)
SynonymsEdit
- see list in elven
TranslationsEdit
elven — see elven
ReferencesEdit
- elvan in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- Robert Hunter, The Encyclopaedic Dictionary: A New and Original Work of Reference (1901)
- ^ James Stormonth, Etymological and Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, William Blackwood and Sons (1879), page 174, under the entry “elf”: “'elvan, a. ĕlv'-ăn, same as elfish”
- ^ “elvan” in the Collins English Dictionary
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 elvan in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- ^ Thomas Davidson, Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language (1907)
- ^ Handbook for travellers in Cornwall (1879), John Murray (publishers), page 25
- ^ Frederick William Pearce Jago, An English-Cornish Dictionary: Compiled from the Best Sources (1887), entry "STONE": "A very hard stone which will strike fire is called elvan. Borlase says elven means a spark of fire."