arsenic

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰelh₃-
2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰl̥h₃enyom
3. Proto-Indo-Iranian*ȷ́ʰr̥Hanyam
4. Proto-Iranian*jr̥Hanyam
5. Old Median*zaranyam
6. Old Median*kā
7. Old Median*zaraniyakā
8. Middle Persian*zarnīk
9. Classical Syriacܙܪܢܝܟܐ (zarnīḵā)
10. Arabicالزَرْنِيخ (az-zarnīḵ)
11. Medieval Greekἀρσενικόν (arsenikón)
12. Latinarsenicum
13. Middle Frencharsenic
14. Middle Englisharsenik
15. English todayarsenic

From Middle English arsenik, borrowed from Middle French arsenic, from Latin arsenicum, from Ancient Greek ἀρσενικόν (arsenikón, “yellow arsenic”) (influenced by ἀρσενικός (arsenikós, “potent, virile”)), from Semitic (compare Classical Syriac ܙܪܢܝܟܐ (zarnīḵā), Aramaic 𐡆𐡓𐡍𐡉𐡊𐡀 (zrnykʾ /⁠zarnīḵā⁠/)), from Middle Iranian *zarnīk (compare Persian زرنیخ (zirnīx /zernix, zarnīx /zarnix, “arsenic”), زرنی (zurnī /zorni), Bakhtiari زرنیق (zarniq)), from Old Median *zaraniyakā (compare Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬀 (zaraniia, “golden”), Old Persian 𐎭𐎼𐎴𐎡𐎹 (d-r-n-i-y /⁠daraniya-⁠⁠⁠/, “gold”), Sanskrit हिरण्य (híraṇya, “gold”), Persian زر (zar, “gold”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. More at yellow.

Words from the same roots