copperas
(ˈkɒpərəs)
Forms: 5–7 coperose, (5 coperosse, coporose, copros(se, 6 coperus, cop(p)erous(e, coporouse, (copper(r)oost(e), copporose), 6–7 coperas, cop(p)eress(e, -is, -ose, cop(p)oras, -es, -is, cop(p)ras, -es(se, 7 cop(p)erase, -ass, -ice, cop(p)ris, -ice, -ose, 6– copperas.
[In 15th c. coperose: cf. F. couperose (14th c. in Littré), coupperose, It. copparosa, med.L. cuperosa, cuprosa, coporosa, in various early glossaries: see esp. Grimm, s.v. Kupferrose.
Diez explained cuperosa, as = *cupri rosa rose of copper, comparing the Gr. name χάλκανθον, -ος lit. ‘flower of copper.’ It seems more probable that med.L. cuprosa, cuperosa was simply short for *aqua cuprosa = Ger. kupferwasser, Du. koperwater, and its association with rosa ‘rose’ merely an etymological fancy. That it was so understood is certain: cf. Kilian (Flemish 1599) ‘Koper-roose, Koperwater, chalcantum, vitriolum, vulgo cuperosa and coppa rosa’; and obs. Ger. kupferrose = kupferwasser (Henisch); also mod. Du. koperrood copper-red, obs. Ger. kupferroth, LG. koperrôt. See the many forms in German under kupferrauch, -rose, -roth, rusz, -wasser, in Grimm. In F., couperose is also applied with more descriptive propriety to the disease copper nose; so in Ger. ‘eine kupferrote nase’ (Grimm).]
1. A name given from early times to the protosulphates of copper, iron, and zinc (distinguished as blue, green, and white copperas respectively); etymologically it belonged properly to the copper salt; but in English use, when undistinguished by attribute or context, it has always been most commonly, and is now exclusively, applied to green copperas, the proto-sulphate of iron or ferrous sulphate (Fe SO4), also called green vitriol, used in dyeing, tanning, and making ink.
(The extension of the name beyond its etymological meaning is anterior to its appearance in English, and indeed inherited from Gr. χάλκανθον, the description of which by Dioscorides gives prominence to blue vitriol, while its use as shoemaker's ink implies green vitriol; the same is true of Pliny's account of chalcanthum. It is probably that, at all times, the occurrence of composite salts containing a variable proportion of copper and iron, as well as the failure to distinguish between copper and iron pyrites, contributed to the confusion. It has to be remembered also that from the mediæval point of view ‘copperas’ was a species, occurring in various colours, the difference of composition being only vaguely apprehended, and that the phenomenon of the dissolving of iron by a solution of green copperas, with deposition of its copper, was explained as conversion of iron into copper by the mediation of the ‘copperas’, which changed its colour from blue to green in the process.)
† a. generically or vaguely. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 91 Coperose, vitriola. c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 579/24 Draganti, vytryole, or coporose. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Chalcanthum.. coperas, or vitrioll. 1577 Harrison England iii. x. (1878) ii. 68 The chrysocolla, coperis, and minerall stone. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. i. 10 Coppres is a salt..vitrial is a salt, allom is a salt. 1612 Sturtevant Metallica (1854) 55 Making of salts, alloms, coppresses, and saltpetre. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. xii. 336 Artificiall copperose..is a..salt drawne out of ferreous and eruginous earths, partaking chiefly of Iron and Copper, the blew of copper, the green most of Iron. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., There is copperas of England, of Pisa, Germany, Cyprus, Hungary and Italy, which differ from each other in colour, richness, and perfection... The English copperas is of a fine green; that of Cyprus and Hungary is of a sky blue, and has copper for its basis. |
b. Protosulphate of iron: more fully
green copperas.
| 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 234 Coporose blank, ij.d'. Coporose vert, at vi.s'. viij.d'. 1565 Act 8 Eliz. c. 11 §3 No Person..shall dye..black, any Cap..but only with Copperas and Gall. 1577 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 414 A hundrethe and a halff of grene copperous. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone Prol., All gall and coppresse from his inke he drayneth. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 336 Inke..made, by copperose cast upon a decoction or infusion of galls. 1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. ii. §4 (1689) 9 Half a Pound of green Copperas. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Copperas, a name given to vitriol, particularly to vitriol of iron. 1832 G. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 114 The red colour used by the Chinese is made from common green vitriol or copperas. 1876 Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. xiv. 252 Sufficiently pyritous to be used in the manufacture of copperas and sulphuric acid. |
† c. Protosulphate of copper:
blue copperas.
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 211 The best Copperas..is made of Copper, or of the Mineral of copper. Ibid. 212 The best kind of Copperas..is in colour of a pleasant blew. 1650 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. ii. (1686) 49 The Common Conversion of Iron into Copper by the Mediation of blew Coperose. 1678 R. R[ussell] Geber iii. ii ii. xiii. 199 Vitriol and Copperas, which also is called Gum of Copper. |
d. Protosulphate of zinc:
white copperas.
| 1464 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 280 For medesen for you, take a lytell whyte coperosse. 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Life (1553) C iij b, Take the bignesse of a nutte of whyte coperose..and pouder it. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 280 White copperas, one ounce. 1751 Chambers Cycl., White copperas is a vitriol of iron, with a mixture of some other mineral, brought from Germany in cakes of 40 or 50 pounds each. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 640 A very..useful [dryer]..is made by grinding in linseed..about two parts of the best white copperas. |
2. Min. Applied generically to a group of native hydrous sulphates, comprising ordinary or
green copperas (Melanterite), ordinary
white copperas (Goslarite),
blue copperas (Chalcanthite), Pisanite, a sulphate of iron and copper of bright blue colour, Bieberite or cobalt vitriol, Morenosite or nickel vitriol, and Coquimbite, a native ferric sulphate, also called
white copperas. yellow copperas is a name of Copiapite, a sulphur or citron-coloured sulphate of
iron.| 1868 Dana Min. 645 Copperas group: the species here included are the ordinary vitriols. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
copperas bag,
copperas fume,
copperas vein, etc.;
copperas-maker,
copperas-work(s; also
copperas-stone.
| 1639 J. Mayne City Match 33 (N.), I know you'l not endure, to see my Jack..weare shirts of *copprice bags. |
| 1839 Carlyle Chartism iv. 132 A..Tophet, of *copperas-fumes. |
| 1604–5 Canterbury Marriage Licences (MS.), Owen Jones de Whitstable, *copprismaker. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 510 This Vitrioll is ingendred many waies of the *copperesse vein within the mine. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. ii. 27 Enricht with coppras vaines. |
| 1634 Brereton Trav. (1844) 2 Here was a most ingenious *copperas work erected. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 99 Vessels for Brewers, Dyers, Coperas-works, Dairies, etc. |