Difference between revisions of "Aurum"

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Gold does indeed often, but not always, occur as an alloy with silver, occasionally as an amalgam with mercury, and trace amounts of other metals; cf. “Types of ore” [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_extraction]].
 
Gold does indeed often, but not always, occur as an alloy with silver, occasionally as an amalgam with mercury, and trace amounts of other metals; cf. “Types of ore” [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_extraction]].
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[[User:WilfGunther|WilfGunther]] ([[User talk:WilfGunther|talk]]) 10:38, 18 September 2015 (BST)
 
[[User:WilfGunther|WilfGunther]] ([[User talk:WilfGunther|talk]]) 10:38, 18 September 2015 (BST)
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See also [[Electrum]]
 
See also [[Electrum]]

Latest revision as of 14:27, 29 October 2016

Aurum Plinius omni inquit auro effosso inest argentum vario pondere alibi dena alibi octava parte in uno tamen gallie metallo quod vocant albucrarense tricesimasexta portio invenitur, ubicumque quinta argenti portio est electrum vocatur et cetera.


Apparatus:

In ms. j this text follows the text of the previous entry Aurum romanum immediately; Aurum Plinius … is however marked as a separate section.
omni inquit | i. o. B
auro | auri ms. j
effosso AB j | effoso C efp | the word does not occur in the Plinian text.
argentum | argenteuʒ f
{pondere} albi and alibi written in margin by different hand ms. e
dena | d’ciã j | decuma Pliny
octaua | ottaua p
tamẽ ms. e | tñ ABC fjp | tantum Pliny {the usual scribal abbreviations for tamen and tantum can be more or less identical}
gallie ABC jp | galie ef | Callaeciae Pliny
metallo AC Pliny | loco B efjp
albucrarense AC | albutatẽse B | albaru tarense f | albrucatẽse ms. e | albrutarẽse jp | Albucrarenses Pliny
{tricesimasexta} portio ABC jp | porcio ef
quinta argenti portio | q. p. a. ms. p
quinta | vna AC
{argenti} portio ABC jp | porcio ef
{portio} est om. f
electrum (-trũ AB) ABC | electum f | el’ectũm̃? p | electuarum + superscript rarum j
vocatur | uocantur (-t~ fj) efj
etcetera om. efj


Translation:

Gold - Pliny says: ore of mined gold always has some silver in it, sometimes a tenth, sometimes an eighth part. But in one mine {Pliny: Only in one mine} in Gaul {Pliny: Galicia, Spain}, which they call the Albucrara mine, one finds as little as one thirty-sixth part {of silver in it}. Whenever you are dealing with a fifth part of silver contained in the gold this ore is called electrum.


Commentary:

This is a near verbatim excerpt from Pliny, 33, 23, 80, ed. Rackham (1938-63: IX.62). The text suffered a few scribal misunderstanding, e.g.

  • The gold mine is in Callaecia, modern Galicia in Spain rather than in Gallia {“Gaul”}.
  • in uno …metallo {in one … mine”} is read as in uno loco {“in one … place} by a number of witnesses.
  • quinta portio {“fifth part”} is read by prints AC as una portio {“a single portion”}.

For electrum, the naturally occurring gold and silver alloy, see Electrum.


Mineralogical remarks:

Gold does indeed often, but not always, occur as an alloy with silver, occasionally as an amalgam with mercury, and trace amounts of other metals; cf. “Types of ore” [[1]].


WilfGunther (talk) 10:38, 18 September 2015 (BST)


See also Electrum


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