sardonyx

English

Polished sardonyx

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sardonyx.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑː(ɹ)ˈdɒnɪks/
• Homophone: sardonics
• Rhymes: -ɒnɪks

Noun

sardonyx (countable and uncountable, plural sardonyxes)

1. A gemstone having bands of red sard; a variety of onyx or chalcedony.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 21:20:

     The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

   • 1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 40:

     The large chalice at right is carved from a single chunk of sardonyx, a kind of onyx. Its gilded rim and base are decorated with tiny enamels depicting a host of popular saints, including Nicephorus (farthest left on rim), a Ninth Century patriarch and opponent of a religious movement to destroy icons.

   • 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XVI, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 151:

     I was wondering at these hanging gardens amid the forest of pink and white marble, red sardonyx, blue-gray, and cream, and black bricks, and green and yellow and tyrian tiles, when the sight of a lansquenet guarding the entrance to a casern reminded me of the promise I had made the officer of the peltasts the night before.

Translations

gemstone banded with red sard

• Armenian: սարդոնիքս (hy) (sardonikʻs)
• Catalan: sardònix m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 纏絲瑪瑙／缠丝玛瑙 (zh) (chánsī mǎnǎo)

• Danish: sardonyks c
• Estonian: sardoonüks
• Finnish: sardonyksi
• French: sardoine (fr) f
• Georgian: სარდონიქსი (sardoniksi)
• German: Sardonyx m
• Greek: σαρδόνυχας (el) m (sardónychas)

  Ancient: σαρδόνυξ m (sardónux)

• Hungarian: szardonix (hu)
• Italian: sardonice f
• Japanese: サードニックス (sādonikkusu), サードニクス (sādonikusu)
• Latin: sardonyx m or f
• Latvian: sardonikss
• Lithuanian: sardoniksas
• Maori: hararonika
• Polish: sardonyks m, sardonik m
• Romanian: sardonix (ro) n
• Russian: сардони́кс (ru) m (sardoníks)
• Spanish: sardónix m or f, sardónice m or f, sardónica (es) f
• Welsh: sardonics m
• Yiddish: סאַרדאָניקס (sardoniks)

Further reading

• sardonyx on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek σαρδόνυξ m (sardónux).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsar.do.nyks/, [ˈs̠ärd̪ɔnʏks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsar.do.niks/, [ˈsärd̪oniks]

Noun

sardonyx m or f (genitive sardonychos or sardonychis); third declension

1. sardonyx

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant or non-Greek-type).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sardonyx	sardonyches sardonychēs
Genitive	sardonychos sardonychis	sardonychum
Dative	sardonychī	sardonychibus
Accusative	sardonycha sardonychem	sardonychas sardonychēs
Ablative	sardonyche	sardonychibus
Vocative	sardonyx	sardonyches sardonychēs

Derived terms

• sardonycha
• sardonychātus
• sardonychus

Descendants

• English: sardonyx
• Italian: sardonice

References

• “sardŏnyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sardonyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sardŏnyx in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1,393/1.
• “sardonyx”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• “sardonyx” on page 1,691/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)