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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 DictionaryÆthna

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English Edition · Branch 8 of 740

Æthna

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 8

Æthna

Elements principles and the natural world · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. An underground fire explained through sulphur, resin and bitumen.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 2; facsimile PDF page 330.

Historical Definition

Æthna is invisible, sulphurous subterranean fire, which burns stones into coals like jet in mountains full of resin and bitumen.

Meaning

The entry gathers several features into an account of underground burning: hidden fire, sulphurous character, combustible mountain materials and stone altered into a coal-like product. Jet appears as a comparison within that account. The definition should not be reduced to the name of an ordinary furnace, because its setting and agency are natural and subterranean.

Its descriptive language also differs from a modern geological explanation. We can report how the author connects these materials without turning the sentence into evidence that every dark stone was produced by the same process. For reading purposes, the links among fire, sulphur and earth are more secure than an exact present-day mineral identification.

Places to Read

Bitumen. A pitch-like earthly material described through texture and origin.

Ardentia. Materials described as combustible by their own nature.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 2; facsimile PDF page 330 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Æthna ; compare Bitumen, Ardentia

See also. Bitumen; Ardentia

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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.