Cinnabar - Word Origin

Word Origin

The name comes from κινναβαρι (kinnabari), a Greek word most likely applied by Theophrastus to several distinct substances. Other sources say the word comes from the Persian شنگرف shangarf (زینجیفرح zinjifrah), a word of uncertain origin (also compare, Sanskrit: sugara). In Latin it was sometimes known as minium, meaning also "red lead", though both of these terms now refer specifically to lead tetroxide.

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