κασσίτερος: Difference between revisions

|etymtx=Grammatical information: m.<br />Meaning: [[tin]] (Il.)<br />Other forms: Att. <b class="b3">καττίτερος</b><br />Compounds: as 1. member in <b class="b3">κασσιτερο-ποιός</b> [[tinner]] (Ptol.).<br />Derivatives: <b class="b3">κασσιτέρινος</b> (<b class="b3">καττι-</b>) <b class="b2">of tin</b> (Att. inscr., Arist.); <b class="b3">Κασσιτερίδες νῆσοι</b> "the tin-islands", prob. SW. of Britain (Hdt. 3, 115, Str.); <b class="b3">κασσιτερᾶς</b> m. [[tinner]] (pap.); <b class="b3">κασσιτερόω</b> [[tin]] (Dsc.).<br />Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]<br />Etymology: Origin unknown. One has supposed Elamitie origin, from <b class="b2">*kassi-ti-ra</b> "coming from the land of the Kassi (i. e. Kossäer)" (from where <b class="b3">Κασσίτιρα</b> island in the Indian Ocean [Dion. ap. St. Byz.]?), but also called Celtic names like <b class="b2">Cassi-velaunus</b> , with the <b class="b3">Κασσιτερίδες νῆσοι</b> giving their name to the metall (cf. e. g. <b class="b3">Κύπρος</b>: [[copper]]) or v.v.. - Eberts Reallexikon 6, 299, Schrader-Nehring Reallex. 2, 699f.; lit. in W.-Hofmann s. [[cassiterum]] (plus Nachträge); Kretschmer Glotta 27, 36; cf. Bq. - Gr. <b class="b3">κασσίτερος</b> was spread widely: Lat. [[cassiterum]] (after [[ferrum]], [[aurum]] a. o.), OCS [[kositerъ]], Skt. [[kastīram]], Arab. [[qazdir]] etc. The group <b class="b3">σσ</b> \/ <b class="b3">ττ</b> however is typically Pre-Greek, so the word will have come from Greece or Anatolia. Cf. the word for [[lead]], <b class="b3">μόλυβδος</b>.