cadmia

Definitions

noun A name used by old writers for the native silicate and carbonate of zinc, and
noun for the oxid of zinc which collects on the sides of furnaces where zinc happens to be present in an ore and is sublimed.

noun (Min.) An oxide of zinc which collects on the sides of furnaces where zinc is sublimed. Formerly applied to the mineral calamine.

noun mineralogy, obsolete An oxide of zinc that collects on the sides of furnaces where zinc is sublimed. Formerly applied to the mineral
noun mineralogy, obsolete Calamine.

From Latin cadmia ("calamine"), from Ancient Greek καδμεία (kadmeia, "calamine"). Compare calamine.

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cadmia.

Strohmeyer coined the name cadmium, derived from the Latin word cadmia which means calamine.

Cadmium 2007
The name calamine (G.rman, _G.lmei_), from _lapis calaminaris_, a Latin corruption of cadmia ([G.eek: kadmia]), the old name for zinc ores in general (G. Agricola in 1546 derived it from the Latin _calamus_, a reed), was early used indiscriminately for the carbonate and the hydrous silicate of zinc, and even now both species are included by miners under the same term.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" Various
For, apprehending that by lapis arojus Pliny un - derftood a kind of ftone which caufed ulcers and erofions in the flefli of thofe who were occu - pied in working it, and knowing that arfenic produced fuch an efFcft, they have concluded that cadmia was native arfenic* This, proba - bly, is a miftake, arifing from a misinterpretation of the word, arofus.

Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester 1785
Prepared cadmia is highly commended by Pliny as ufeful in 3'iforders of the eyes, ft and it is ftill with us, under the more common appellation of cala - mine, in fome repute for the fame purpofe.

Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester 1785