Basalt: The Greek root basanos, from… | etymologist.ai
basalt
/bəˈsɔːlt/·noun·1601 CE, in Philemon Holland's English translation of Pliny's Naturalis Historia·Established
Origin
From Egyptian and possibly Semitic roots meaning 'touchstone' or 'testing stone,' basalt passed through Greek basanites and Latin basaltes — where Pliny applied it to hard dark Ethiopian rock — before Renaissance mineralogists narrowed it to its modern geological meaning during the volcanic-origins debates of the 18th century.
Definition
A fine-grained, dark-coloured volcanic igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of lava rich in magnesium and iron, the most common rock of the oceanic crust.
The Full Story
New Latin / Medieval Latin16th–17th century CEwell-attested
'Basalt' enters English in the early 17th century from New Latin 'basaltes', a form found in Pliny the Elder's 'Naturalis Historia' (77 CE) as 'basaltes' or 'basanites', referring to a hard dark stone from Ethiopia used for testing gold (a touchstone). TheLatin 'basanites' derives from Greek 'basanites (lithos)', meaning 'touchstone', from Greek 'basanos' (βάσανος), a word meaning 'touchstone' or 'test'. Greek 'basanos' is a probable loanword, likely from Egyptian via Semitic — scholarsincluding
Did you know?
The Greek root basanos, from which basalt ultimately derives, also meant 'torture' or 'ordeal' — because interrogation under duress was called 'putting to the touchstone,' testing truth the same way jewellers tested gold. This is whytheNew Testament uses basanizein for torment and suffering. The rock that covers most of the ocean floor shares
. The Greek 'basanos' also gave rise to the verb 'basanizein' (to examine under torture, to put to the proof), used extensively in New Testament Greek for torment and suffering — making 'basalt' an etymological cousin of the Greek word for anguish. Key roots: basanos (βάσανος) (Ancient Greek: "touchstone; means of testing; ordeal, torture"), bhn (reconstructed) (Egyptian: "hard dark stone used as touchstone or test material — probable non-Indo-European source").