porphyry
(ˈpɔːfɪrɪ)
Forms: α. 5 porˈfurie, -ˈfurye, -ˈforie, -ˈphurye, -ˈphiri(e, -ˈfirie. β. 5 ˈpurfire, 7 -fere, -fure; 6 -phure, ˈporphier, -phuer, 6–7 -phir, -e, 6–9 -phyre, 7 -phere, ˈpurphire, 7–8 ˈporphyr. γ. 6 ˈporpherie, -phury, 7 -phyrie, prophyry, purphorie, 8 porphiry, 6– porphyry.
[The ultimate source of the word in all its forms is Gr. πόρϕυρος adj. purple, πορϕύρα n. the purple-whelk, and its dye; but the stone was called in Gr. πορϕυρῑ́της, L. porphyrītēs, whence porphyrite. The Romanic names of the stone point however to late L. forms *porphyrius, *porphyrus (sc. lapis), purple (stone), or *porphyrium, *porphyrum: cf. Romaic πόρϕυρον. (Porphyrius, Πορϕύριος existed as a proper name: see Porphyrian2.) For the stone, English shows three types: α. (in Chaucer, in sense 2) porˈfurie, -ˈfirie, etc., a. AF. *porˈfirië = OF. porˈfire, mod.F. porˈphyre, ad. late L. type *porˈphyrius, -um. β. ˈporphir, -phyr, earlier ˈporfire, ˈporphyre, app. (with shifted stress) for purˈfire, porˈphyre, a. OF. porˈfire. γ. ˈporphyrie, -phyry, 16th c. ad. late L. type *porphyrius, -um.
For the relation of AF. porˈfirië to F. porˈfire, cf. AF. naˈvirie, OF. naˈvire, AF. ˈglorie, OF. ˈgloire. From F. come also Du. porˈfier, -ˈphier, Ger. porˈphyr, Da., Sw. porfyr. From the late L. *ˈporphyrus, -um, also ˈporfidum (Dante) came It. ˈporfiro, ˈporfido, Sp., Pg. pórfido.]
1. a. The word used to render L. porphyrītēs, Gr. πορϕυρίτης, the name given to a beautiful and very hard rock anciently quarried in Egypt, composed of crystals of white or red plagioclase felspar embedded in a fine red ground-mass consisting of hornblende, plagioclase, apatite, thulite, and withamite, the last two being bright red in colour. By modern poets often used vaguely, in the sense of a beautiful and valuable purple stone taking a high polish, including red granite and marble.
The site of the ancient quarries, after being long lost, was discovered by Burton and Wilkinson at Gebel Dokhān, near the Red Sea, in lat. 27° 20{p} N.
In It., porfido nero, porfido verde, were applied to black and green rocks of porphyritic structure obtained from Sardinia, Greece, and elsewhere, and these have been englished as black porphyry and green porphyry.
| β a 1400–50 Alexander 5275 Þe pilars ware of purfire polischt & hewen. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Esther i. 6 margin, The beds were of gold and of siluer vpon a pauement of porphyre. 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) A vj b, The third is a piller of Porphier in a golden field. 1589 Lodge Scillaes Metam. (Hunter. Cl.) 41 Where purphure, Ebonie, white, and red, al colours stained bee. 1590 Greene Mourn. Garm. (1616) 31 The Saphir [is] highlier esteemed for the hue, then the Porphuer for his hugenesse. 1596 Danett tr. Comines (1614) 278 Beautified with many great peeces of Porphire and Sarpentine. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 10 Cerigo..once called Porphyris of his excellent Porphyr. 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I) 77 Precious as Marble and Purphire. 1648 Bury Wills (Camden) 217 My great grinding-stonne of purfure with the muller to it, and the little grinding-stonne of purfere with the muller to it. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. viii. §19 Let us consider the red and white Colours in Porphyre. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xxviii. 227 The most durable Marbre or Porphyr. |
| γ 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. (1556) 66 Pillers of Porpherie, whiche is a stone of purple colour. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xii. lxxiii. (1612) 301 The Statures huge, of Porphyrie and costlier matters made. 1644 Evelyn Diary 17 Oct., Red-plaster flores which are made so hard and kept so polished, that..one would take them for whole pieces of porphyrie. 1645 Ibid. June, The floore [of St. Mark's] is all inlayed with achats,..jaspers, porphyries and other rich marbles. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 82 ¶9, I have two pieces of porphyry found among the ruins of Ephesus. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. lx, Her pyramid of precious stones, Of porphyry, jasper, agate, and all hues Of gem and marble. 1861 C. W. King Ant. Gems (1866) 64 Porphyry..is easily recognised by its deep red colour, thickly dotted with small white spots. 1871 Rossetti Burden of Nineveh xiii, Made proud with pillars of basalt, With sardonyx and porphyry. |
† b. transf. Obs.| 1589 Greene Tullie's Loue Wks. (Grosart) VII. 115 Tempering the porphury of hir face with a vermilion blush, looking like Diana when shee basht at Acteons presence. |
† 2. With
a and
pl. A slab or block of porphyry,
esp. a slab used for grinding and triturating drugs and the like upon.
Obs.| α c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 222 Oure grounden litarge eek in the Porfurie [v.rr. porphirie, -phurye, -forie; rime mercu·rie]. |
| γ 1634 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. i. xx. 65, I like best the porphyry, white or greene marble, with a mullar or upper stone of the same. 1644 Evelyn Mem. 29 Nov., The laver or basin is of one vast, intire, antiq porphytrie. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 341/2 The dried Mass to be ground each time upon a Porphyry. |
3. Geol. and
Min. a. A rock consisting of a compact base of felspathic or other unstratified rock containing scattered crystals of felspar of contemporary age.
| 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 349 Any stone which in a siliceous or argillaceous ground, or basis, contains scattered specks, grains, or dots of felspar,..is at present denominated a porphyry. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. iv. (1814) 193 Porphyry..consists of crystals of feldspar. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. Gloss. 77 Porphyry..is hence applied to every species of unstratified rock, in which detached crystals of felspar are diffused through a base of other mineral composition. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts, Porphyry, is a compound mineral or rock, composed essentially of a base of hornstone, interspersed with crystals of felspar. 1869 Bristow tr. Figuier's World bef. Deluge ii. 33 True porphyry presents a paste essentially composed of compact felspar. 1876 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. vii. 134 The porphyry of the mineralogist consists of a reddish felspar basis with disseminated crystals. |
b. In more general sense: Any unstratified or igneous rock having a homogeneous base in which crystals of one or more minerals are disseminated.
Variously specified as
felspar porphyry (
= a),
basaltic porphyry,
claystone porphyry,
granitic porphyry,
greenstone porphyry,
hornstone porphyry,
mica porphyry,
pitchstone porphyry,
trachytic porphyry, etc.
quartz porphyry has as ground-mass an intimate mixture of orthoclase and quartz, containing distinct crystals or large grains of quartz.
The name is sometimes applied even to rocks in which the porphyritic crystals are absent. Many limitations or definitions of the term have been proposed by modern mineralogists, continental and British, but without any general agreement as to the basis of definition: see, in English, Sir A. Geikie
Text-bk.
Geol. (
ed. 1885) 149, Prof. Bonny in
Prof. Geol. Soc. (1886) XLI. 72, Harper
Petrology for Students (
ed. 1902) 126, etc.
| 1813 Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 119 The term porphyry is very vague, being applied to all rocks that have a compact base or ground in which crystals of any kind are imbedded and distinctly visible. 1838 Lyell Elem. Geol. xxviii. (1874) 506 When distinct crystals of one or more minerals are scattered through a compact base the rock is termed a ‘porphyry’. 1838 Murray's Handbk. N. Germ. 455 High and romantic cliffs, chiefly of porphyry or amygdaloid, abounding in agates, amethysts, &c. of great beauty and variety. 1858 Geikie Hist. Boulder xii. 240 When a trap displays distinct disseminated crystals..it becomes a porphyry. 1872 R. B. Smyth Mining Statist. 32 Quartz porphyries and felspar porphyries—massive, and dykes of diorite and diabase, occur in many parts. 1878 Lawrence tr. Cotta's Rocks Class. 88 Porphyry is the general designation for all porphyritic rocks with compact main mass or matrix. 1883 Chambers' Encycl. VII. 690 Crystals of felspar, quartz, or calcareous spar, disseminated through a base of greenstone, form a greenstone porphyry. In the same way, there are pitchstone porphyry, basaltic porphyry, claystone porphyry, etc. |
4. A collector's name for various moths (so called from the colour or markings of their wings).
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 427 The Porphyry (Botys cespitalis). Chalky places. 1832 Rennie Conspect. Butterfl. & Moths 74 The Porphyry (Scotophila porphyrea) appears the end of July. Wings..; first pair dusky red, with a purplish tinge, with several white streaks and spots. Ibid. 149 The Porphyry (Pyrausta porphyrialis). Wings..purplish, with a large golden red or white spot among many very minute ones. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
porphyry column,
porphyry grot,
porphyry house,
porphyry hue,
porphyry mortar,
porphyry slab;
porphyry-red,
porphyry-smooth adjs.;
b. porphyry-born a., born in the purple (see
purple n. 2 d);
porphyry-chair, a chair used in the installation of a pope;
porphyry chamber, name of a room in the palace of the Emperors at Byzantium (
cf. quot. 1727–41
s.v. porphyrogenite);
porphyry knot-horn, a moth: see
quot.;
porphyry-shell, a shell of the genus
Murex,
esp. that from which the purple dye was obtained;
porphyry-stone = senses 1 and 2.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. ii. v. 125 Beaten into pouder in a purphorie morter of smal bignesse. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. iii. viii, His porphyre house glitters in purple die; In purple clad himself. Ibid. ii. x, With luke-warm waters di'd in porphyr hue. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 103 Your Eccho deserves to dwell in som marble or porphyry grot. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. v. 150 Excellent porphyry mortars are brought to this country from Sweden. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 180 Porphyry cliffs as red as blood. 1930 E. Pound XXX Cantos xvii. 78 And the cave salt-white, and glare-purple, cool, porphyry smooth. 1963 A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 194 The range thrust its porphyry-red battlements into the forested valley. |
| 1964 Auden in Listener 1 Oct. 525/1 Neither of our Dads, like Horace's, Wiped his nose on his forearm, Neither was *porphyry-born. |
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., *Porphyry Chair, a Chair of Porphyry Marble in the Cloister of St. John Lateran at Rome, called Sedes Stercoraria. |
| 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. iv. viii. (1864) II. 397 Constantine was seized..conducted to the *porphyry chamber in which Irene had borne him—her firstborn son. |
| 1832 Rennie Conspect. Butterfl. & Moths 214 The *Porphyry Knot-horn (P[hycita] Porphyrea, Curtis). |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Porphyry-shell, a name given by authors to a species of sea-shell of the purpura kind, with a short clavicle and beak. |
| 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 129 The Pope gave him a ryng and a superaltarie of *porphiri ston, whech he had hallowid and blessid. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xv. (1658) 165 A subtile pouder..much like what filing..of leaf gold upon a porphyre stone, may reduce it into. 1715 Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 86 It was adorn'd with white Marble, Porphyr-stone,..and..Statues. |