Metals minerals and metallic preparations

Andena

An eastern steel characterized by melting and casting.

From the book

A Chymical Dictionary

Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordAn eastern steel characterized by melting and casting.
  • A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 3; facsimile PDF page 331.

Historical definition

Andena is steel brought from eastern countries, which melts in fire like other metal and is cast into various forms.

Meaning

The entry identifies a metal, gives it a geographical provenance and emphasizes its capacity to be cast. The latter distinguishes the author’s account from a description concerned only with the shaping of solid metal. Yet the definition offers no precise place of manufacture, composition or trade route. “Eastern countries” should therefore remain a broad historical claim rather than being expanded into an unsupported national origin.

For reading, preserve the sequence: the material is called steel, is melted, and then receives different forms by casting. The fact that a passage mentions one of these actions does not by itself establish every other feature of the dictionary’s definition.

Places to read

  1. AndenaRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
  2. HadidA dictionary name for iron.
  3. FusioAn operation defined by melting and flow in fire.

Source note

Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 3; facsimile PDF page 331 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Andena ; compare Hadid, Fusio