cuprum

Latin

Chemical element
Cu
Previous: niccolum (Ni)
Next: zincum (Zn)

Alternative forms

• cyprum

Etymology

From cyprium (“copper”), elliptical for aes Cyprium, Cyprium aes (literally “Cypriote copper”), after the large reserves of the metal found on the island of Cyprus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈku.prum/, [ˈkʊprʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈku.prum/, [ˈkuːprum]

Noun

cuprum n (genitive cuprī); second declension

1. (Late Latin) copper (the metal)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	cuprum	cupra
genitive	cuprī	cuprōrum
dative	cuprō	cuprīs
accusative	cuprum	cupra
ablative	cuprō	cuprīs
vocative	cuprum	cupra

Synonyms

• aerāmen

Descendants

• West Iberian
  • Asturian: cobre
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
    • Galician: cobre
    • Portuguese: cobre
  • Spanish: cobre
    • → Basque: kobre
• Catalan: coure

From cuprium or cupreum:

• Old French: cuivre, quivre, queivre, coivre
  • Bourguignon: cueuvre, cuvre
  • Champenois: cuevre
  • French: cuivre
  • → Breton: kouevr
• Occitan: coire

Borrowings

• → Proto-West Germanic: *kopr (see there for further descendants)
• → Malay: kuprum
• → Romanian: cupru
• →⇒ English: cupro-, cupric
• →⇒ Italian: cupro-, cuprico

References

• “cuprum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cuprum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cuprum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.