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.
| 1398 Trevisa 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 þ{supt} 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.
| 1849 Otté tr. Humboldt's Cosmos II. 494 note, The electron, the sun-stone of the very ancient mythus of the Eridanus. 1855 Bailey Mystic, etc. 91 Sunstone, which every phantom foul dispels. 1896 W. 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.)
| 1677 Plot Oxfordshire 81, I know not why it [sc. the Moonstone] may not as well be called the Sun-stone too. 1794 Schmeisser Syst. Min. I. 137 Cats Eye... The Sun Stone of the Turks. 1798 [see cat's-eye 2]. 1821 R. 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. 1884 F. 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.
| 1841 Penny 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.
| 1874 Cleasby & 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. 1947 J. 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. 1968 Carnegie Mag. May 152/1 In overcast weather, a ‘sunstone’ determined the position of the sun. 1970 B. 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. 1980 M. 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. |