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kobold - n., either of two types of spirits in German folklore: an often mischievous, household elf; a gnome that haunts mines and other underground places.
The second type being the more dangerous. Cobalt, the metal and element, is named from them -- either because it was believed to have been put in silver veins by them, or because you had to brave them to get it, or because the ore, commonly containing arsenic, was as dangerous as them. Take your pick of the explanations, though the latter seems the most likely to me.
---L.
The second type being the more dangerous. Cobalt, the metal and element, is named from them -- either because it was believed to have been put in silver veins by them, or because you had to brave them to get it, or because the ore, commonly containing arsenic, was as dangerous as them. Take your pick of the explanations, though the latter seems the most likely to me.
---L.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-11 03:46 pm (UTC)*contemplates arsenic-blooded Kobolds*
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Date: 2007-10-12 02:23 pm (UTC)---L.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-12 02:26 pm (UTC)