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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 DictionaryAurum vivum

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English Edition · Branch 78 of 740

Aurum vivum

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 78

Aurum vivum

Metals minerals and metallic preparations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A “living gold” expression that can designate quicksilver.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 9; facsimile PDF page 337.

Historical Definition

Aurum vivum is sometimes taken to mean quicksilver.

Meaning

The qualification “sometimes” is the essential reading guide. The dictionary records one permitted identification rather than declaring that every instance of the phrase must mean quicksilver. A passage that specifies gold, Mercury or a particular transformation should retain its own distinctions.

The entry also demonstrates why the first word of a compound cannot always determine its material. Aurum planatum identifies worked gold, while this entry admits quicksilver. Reading the complete expression and its stated action is more reliable than translating every Aurum term simply as ordinary gold.

Places to Read

Aurum planatum. Gold identified by being beaten into a thin form.

Mercurius Crudus. Mercury described before separation from its mineral source.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 9; facsimile PDF page 337 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Aurum vivum ; compare Aurum planatum, Mercurius Crudus

See also. Aurum planatum; Mercurius Crudus

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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.