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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · English Edition

Gerhard Dorn and John French

A Chymical Dictionary

An Expanded Diotimos Lexicon of Paracelsian and Alchemical Language

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A Chymical DictionaryPhenix

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English Edition · Branch 49 of 740

Phenix

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 49

Phenix

Elements principles and the natural world · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A name with quintessence-of-fire and philosophers’ stone senses.

In the book. Quintessentia describes a purified spiritual matter, while Lapis Philosophorum is defined as the highest virtue of earthly things, giving tincture.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 38; facsimile PDF page 366.

Historical Definition

Phenix is the quintessence of fire; also the philosophers’ stone.

Meaning

The definition supplies two applications. Also adds the philosophers’ stone to the quintessence of fire. A reader should keep both visible rather than selecting one automatically from the headword’s familiar image.

Use in the Book

Quintessentia describes a purified spiritual matter, while Lapis Philosophorum is defined as the highest virtue of earthly things, giving tincture. These fuller glosses provide the appropriate reading routes. Their comparison clarifies the dictionary’s network without claiming that every use of quintessence is the stone.

Places to Read

Lapis Philosophorum. The philosophers’ stone defined through supreme terrestrial power and its imparting of tincture.

Quintessentia. A purified spiritual matter obtained from living things.

Tinctura. An agent defined by imparting color to another body.

In This Edition

The article begins from the explicit equivalents in this witness. A full interpretation of phoenix symbolism in another work would need the actual passage, its image and its stated operation.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 38; facsimile PDF page 366 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Phenix; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 366; compare Lapis Philosophorum, Quintessentia, Tinctura, Vulcanus

See also. Lapis Philosophorum; Quintessentia; Tinctura; Vulcanus

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About This Reading Edition

The complete 706 historical definitions of the 1650 English dictionary, modernised and accompanied by expanded Diotimos commentary, reading routes, 15 textual notes and complete linked indexes.

Historical Text

A Chymicall Dictionary, London 1650, English version associated with John French, based on Gerhard Dorn’s Dictionarium Theophrasti Paracelsi. The containing volume also prints Sendivogius and Paracelsus; neither neighboring work changes this dictionary’s attribution.

About This Edition

Complete 706 definition paragraphs with new introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes; Diotimos Editions, 2026.

Rights

The historical 1650 English text is in the public domain. New introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and published with the site owner’s authorization.