Electrum

Metals minerals and metallic preparations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Amber in one usage, or a Paracelsian metallic combination in another.

In the book. Compositum is a body not separated, and Corpus is the subject in which virtues lie hidden.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 20; facsimile PDF page 348.

Historical Definition

Electrum sometimes means amber; in Paracelsus it is a compound metal made by melting all seven planets into one body.

Meaning

The entry insists on two senses. The first is amber. The second, attributed specifically to Paracelsus, is a compound metal described through the melting of all seven planets into one body. The difference is too large to resolve through the headword alone: the reader needs the author and subject of the passage.

The planetary language belongs to the description of the compound metal. Elsewhere the dictionary explicitly uses Iupiter for tin, showing that a planetary name can operate as a material name. That evidence helps a reader understand the field of the expression without pretending that the entry supplies an alloy composition or the proportions of its constituents.

“One body” describes a resulting unity. It should not make the preceding plurality disappear: the definition claims a compound formed from the seven, rather than a single metal that simply has seven alternative names. Equally, it would be misleading to apply the amber sense to a passage concerned with the preparation of such a metallic body.

Use in the Book

Compositum is a body not separated, and Corpus is the subject in which virtues lie hidden. Iupiter’s direct identification with tin provides one explicit example of the planetary naming language; Corbatum and Fida supply other metal names without, in their own definitions, giving planetary equivalents. These distinctions keep the comparison grounded in what the dictionary actually states.

The entry is also an unusually clear guide to attribution. Its phrase “in Paracelsus” assigns the metallic sense to a particular body of writings. It does not claim that every writer using Electrum must mean this compound, and the opening “sometimes” preserves the existence of another usage.

Places to Read

Compositum. A compound body considered before separation.

Corbatum. A dictionary name for copper.

Corpus. A body understood as the subject containing a thing’s hidden efficacy.

In This Edition

Both senses are retained in the modernised definition and in searching. The commentary supplies no melting instructions. A precise reconstruction would require evidence beyond this dictionary’s compressed account.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 20; facsimile PDF page 348 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Electrum

See also. Compositum; Corbatum; Corpus; Fida; Iupiter