antinomy / antimony
Feb. 5th, 2018 07:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordAnother theme week -- doublets, especially easily confused doublets, starting with:
antinomy (an-TIN-uh-mee) - n., an opposition or contradiction between two laws, principles, etc.; a logical paradox; a fundamental and apparently unresolvable conflict or contradiction.
antimony (AN-tuh-moh-nee) - n., a brittle, white metallic element (symbol Sb, atomic number 51).
Two classics examples of logical antinomies are "There is no absolute truth" (which sets itself up as one) and "This sentence is a lie" (in which case it is); a classic example of the contradiction antinomy is freedom and slavery. It was adopted around 1590 via Latin from Greek antinomía, a contradiction between laws.
Antimony is a very soft metal, so its uses are largely as compounds -- antimony sulfide is the Egyptian cosmetic kohl. Its name is from Medieval Latin antimonium, which is attested as far back as the eleventh century, origin unknown (there's several competing, and unconvincing, theories). The elemental symbol is from stibium, the Latinization of, stimmi, the Greek name for it, itself of unknown origin but probably Egyptian mśdmt, which according to later Arabic tradition was read as mesdemet.
Thanks, Wikimedia!
---L.
antinomy (an-TIN-uh-mee) - n., an opposition or contradiction between two laws, principles, etc.; a logical paradox; a fundamental and apparently unresolvable conflict or contradiction.
antimony (AN-tuh-moh-nee) - n., a brittle, white metallic element (symbol Sb, atomic number 51).
Two classics examples of logical antinomies are "There is no absolute truth" (which sets itself up as one) and "This sentence is a lie" (in which case it is); a classic example of the contradiction antinomy is freedom and slavery. It was adopted around 1590 via Latin from Greek antinomía, a contradiction between laws.
Antimony is a very soft metal, so its uses are largely as compounds -- antimony sulfide is the Egyptian cosmetic kohl. Its name is from Medieval Latin antimonium, which is attested as far back as the eleventh century, origin unknown (there's several competing, and unconvincing, theories). The elemental symbol is from stibium, the Latinization of, stimmi, the Greek name for it, itself of unknown origin but probably Egyptian mśdmt, which according to later Arabic tradition was read as mesdemet.
Thanks, Wikimedia!
---L.
