| 释义 |
ˈsunstone, ˈsun-stone
†1. A rendering of L. sōlis gemma, described by Pliny (N.H. xxxvii. lxvii) as a white stone which throws out rays like the sun. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xc. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 182 b/1 The sonne stone hatte Solis gemma, and is white and schynynge and haþ þt name for he schyneþ with bemes as þee sonne doþ.
2. A name given to amber, because the Heliades or daughters of the sun, according to a Greek myth, were changed into poplars and wept amber.
Gr. ἤλεκτρον amber (see electrum) is related to ἠλέκτωρ, which occurs as an epithet of the sun.
1849Otté tr. Humboldt's Cosmos II. 494 note, The electron, the sun-stone of the very ancient mythus of the Eridanus. 1855Bailey Mystic, etc. 91 Sunstone, which every phantom foul dispels. 1896W. A. Buffum Tears of Heliades i. (1897) 7 Trinacria's lustrous and pellucid sun-stone.
3. Min.
a. A name for several varieties of feldspar, showing red or golden-yellow reflexions from minute embedded crystals of mica, oxide of iron, etc.
b. = cat's-eye 2. (So G. sonnenstein.)
1677Plot Oxfordshire 81, I know not why it [sc. the Moonstone] may not as well be called the Sun-stone too. 1794Schmeisser Syst. Min. I. 137 Cats Eye... The Sun Stone of the Turks. 1798[see cat's-eye 2]. 1821R. Jameson Man. Mineral. 155 Another variety of adularia, found in Siberia, is known to jewellers under the name Sunstone. It is of a yellowish-grey colour, and numberless golden spots appear distributed throughout its whole substance. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 216 Moon-Stone, Sun-Stone, Amazon-Stone and Avanturine are forms of felspar.
4. (Always with hyphen.) A stone sacred to the sun, or connected with sun-worship.
1841Penny Cycl. XX. 192/2 The..relics of Pagan places of worship..; the pillar stone of witness, the tapering sun-stone, [etc.].
5. [tr. ON. sólarsteinn.] A stone whose exact properties are uncertain, mentioned in several medieval Icelandic sources.
‘A semi-precious stone capable of being used as a burning-glass’: P. G. Foote in ARV: Jrnl. Scandinavian Folklore (1956), XII. 26–40.
1874Cleasby & Vigfusson Icelandic-Eng. Dict. 579/2 Sólar-steinn, m. a sun-stone or loadstone, = leiðarsteinn, used by sailors to find the place of the sun on a cloudy day. 1947J. E. Turville-Petre tr. Story of Rauð & his Sons 24 The King..sent a man out to observe the weather, and there was not a patch of clear sky to be seen. The King then asked Sigurd to determine how far the sun had travelled. He gave a precise answer. So the King had the sun-stone held aloft, and observed where it cast out a beam; the altitude it showed was exactly as Sigurd had said. 1968Carnegie Mag. May 152/1 In overcast weather, a ‘sunstone’ determined the position of the sun. 1970B. E. Gelsinger in Mariner's Mirror LVI. 222 Thorkild Ramskou..suggested that the sunstone was a crystal such as Iceland spar which polarized light... The sunstone could thus indicate the position of the sun even though the sky was completely overcast. This description..harmonizes with non-Icelandic references to the sunstone... Pliny the Elder..described the sunstone or solis gemma as a white stone which casts rays of the sun. 1980M. Magnusson Vikings! vii. 191 Unfortunately, today's scholars do not rate the so-called sun-stone as a Viking Age navigational aid..; nothing is sacrosanct in the severe world of scholarship. |