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Berillus
Operations instruments and practitioners · A Chymical Dictionary
At a Glance
The word. A divinatory looking-glass described with a critical judgement.
A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 11; facsimile PDF page 339.
Historical Definition
Berillus is a crystalline looking-glass superstitiously consecrated by augurs.
Meaning
The definition combines the object’s character, its consecration and its users. The glass is described as crystalline, and the augurs’ treatment of it is called superstitious. The entry is therefore more than a neutral material description. The evaluative word tells us how the dictionary positions this use of the object.
It does not give enough information to reconstruct the glass’s shape or to identify one modern optical instrument. Berillistica supplies the associated act of observing visions, while Augurista describes a practitioner. Those links are more secure than an unsupported reconstruction based on the name alone.
Places to Read
Berillistica. A practice of viewing visions in the glasses described under Berillus.
Augurista. A diviner defined by media, bird signs and a hostile evaluation.
Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 11; facsimile PDF page 339 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Berillus ; compare Berillistica, Augurista
See also. Berillistica; Augurista