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.
Read more about this topic: Cinnabar
Famous quotes containing the words word and/or origin:
“The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.”
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)
“Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil. They give us, now and then, some of those luxurious sterile emotions that have a certain charm for the weak.... They are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)