Английская Википедия:Alchemical symbol
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Alchemical symbols before Lavoisier |
Alchemical symbols, originally devised as part of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century. Although notation was partly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists. Lüdy-Tenger[1] published an inventory of 3,695 symbols and variants, and that was not exhaustive, omitting for example many of the symbols used by Isaac Newton. This page therefore lists only the most common symbols.
Three primes
According to Paracelsus (1493–1541), the three primes or tria prima – of which material substances are immediately composed – are:[2]
- Sulfur or soul, the principle of combustibility: 🜍 (Файл:Sulphur symbol (fixed width).svg)
- Mercury or spirit, the principle of fusibility and volatility: ☿ (Файл:Mercury symbol (fixed width).svg)
- Salt or body, the principle of non-combustibility and non-volatility: 🜔 (Файл:Salt symbol (alchemical).svg)
Four basic elements
Шаблон:Main Western alchemy makes use of the four classical elements. The symbols used for these are:[3]
- Air 🜁 (Файл:Air symbol (alchemical).svg)
- Earth 🜃 (Файл:Earth symbol (alchemical).svg)
- Fire 🜂 (Файл:Fire symbol (alchemical).svg)
- Water 🜄 (Файл:Water symbol (alchemical).svg)
Seven Шаблон:Vanchor
The seven metals known since Classical times in Europe were associated with the seven classical planets; this figured heavily in alchemical symbolism. The exact correlation varied over time, and in early centuries bronze or electrum were sometimes found instead of mercury, or copper for Mars instead of iron; however, gold, silver, and lead had always been associated with the Sun, Moon, and Saturn.Шаблон:NoteTag The associations below are attested from the 7th century and had stabilized by the 15th. They started breaking down with the discovery of antimony, bismuth, and zinc in the 16th century. Alchemists would typically call the metals by their planetary names, e.g. "Saturn" for lead, "Mars" for iron; compounds of tin, iron, and silver continued to be called "jovial", "martial", and "lunar"; or "of Jupiter", "of Mars", and "of the moon", through the 17th century. The tradition remains today with the name of the element mercury, where chemists decided the planetary name was preferable to common names like "quicksilver", and in a few archaic terms such as lunar caustic (silver nitrate) and saturnism (lead poisoning).[4][5]
- Lead, corresponding with Saturn ♄ (Файл:Saturn symbol (fixed width).svg)
- Tin, corresponding with Jupiter ♃ (Файл:Jupiter symbol (fixed width).svg)
- Iron, corresponding with Mars ♂ (Файл:Mars symbol (fixed width).svg)
- Gold, corresponding with the Sun ☉ 🜚 ☼ (Файл:Sun symbol (fixed width).svg Файл:Old symbol for sun.svg Файл:Sol symbol (fixed width).svg)
- Copper, corresponding with Venus ♀ (Файл:Venus symbol (fixed width).svg)
- Quicksilver, corresponding with Mercury ☿ (Файл:Mercury symbol (fixed width).svg)
- Silver, corresponding with the Moon ☽ or ☾ (Файл:Moon crescent symbol (fixed width).svg or Файл:Moon decrescent symbol (fixed width).svg) [also 🜛 in Newton][6]
Mundane elements and later metals
- Antimony ♁ (Файл:Globus cruciger (fixed width).svg) (in Newton), also Файл:Antimony psi symbol.svg
- Arsenic 🜺 (Файл:Arsenic symbol.svg)
- Bismuth ♆ (Файл:Bismuth trident symbol.svg) (in Newton), 🜘 (Файл:Bismuth symbol.svg) (in Bergman)
- Cobalt Файл:Alkali symbol.svg (approximately 🜶) (in Bergman)
- Manganese Файл:Manganese symbol (Bergman).svg (in Bergman)
- Nickel Файл:Nickel symbol.svg (in Bergman; previously used for regulus of sulfur)
- Oxygen Файл:Oxygen symbol (Lavoisier).svg (in Lavoisier)
- Phlogiston Файл:Phlogiston symbol.svg (in Bergman)
- Phosphorus Файл:Phosphorus symbol.svg or Файл:Phosphorus symbol (inverted).svg
- Platinum Файл:Platinum symbol.svg or Файл:Platinum symbol (simple).svg (in Bergman et al.)
- Sulfur 🜍 (Файл:Sulphur symbol (fixed width).svg) (in Newton)
- Zinc Файл:Zinc symbol (fixed width).svg (in Bergman)
Alchemical compounds
The following symbols, among others, have been adopted into Unicode.
- Acid (incl. vinegar) 🜊 (Файл:Acid symbol (alchemical).svg)
- Sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) 🜹 (Файл:Sal ammoniac symbol.svg)[5]
- Aqua fortis (nitric acid) 🜅 (Файл:Aqua fortis.svg), A.F.[5]
- Aqua regia (nitro-hydrochloric acid) 🜆 (Файл:Aqua regia (alchemical).svg), 🜇 (Файл:U+1F707.svg), A.R.[5]
- Spirit of wine (concentrated ethanol; called aqua vitae or spiritus vini) 🜈 (Файл:U+1F708.svg), S.V. or 🜉 (Файл:Aqua vitae symbol.svg)
- Amalgam (alloys of a metal and mercury) 🝛 (Файл:U+1F75B.svg) = a͞a͞a, ȧȧȧ (among other abbreviations).
- Cinnabar (mercury sulfide) 🜓 (Файл:Cinnabar symbol.svg)
- Vinegar (distilled) 🜋 (Файл:Distilled vinegar symbol.svg) (in Newton)
- Vitriol (sulfates) 🜖 (Файл:Vitriol symbol.svg)[5]
- Black sulphur (residue from sublimation of sulfur) 🜏 (Файл:Black sulfur symbol (fixed width).svg)[7]
Alchemical processes
The alchemical magnum opus was sometimes expressed as a series of chemical operations. In cases where these numbered twelve, each could be assigned one of the Zodiac signs as a form of cryptography. The following example can be found in Pernety's Dictionnaire mytho-hermétique (1758):[8]
- Calcination (Aries Файл:Aries symbol (fixed width).svg) ♈︎
- Congelation (Taurus Файл:Taurus symbol (fixed width).svg) ♉︎
- Fixation (Gemini Файл:Gemini symbol (fixed width).svg) ♊︎
- Solution (Cancer Файл:Cancer symbol (fixed width).svg) ♋︎
- Digestion (Leo Файл:Leo symbol (fixed width).svg) ♌︎
- Distillation (Virgo Файл:Virgo symbol (fixed width).svg) ♍︎
- Sublimation (Libra Файл:Libra symbol (fixed width).svg) ♎︎
- Separation (Scorpio Файл:Scorpius symbol (fixed width).svg) ♏︎
- Ceration (Sagittarius Файл:Sagittarius symbol (fixed width).svg) ♐︎
- Fermentation (Capricorn Файл:Capricornus symbol (fixed width).svg) ♑︎ (Putrefaction)
- Multiplication (Aquarius Файл:Aquarius symbol (fixed width).svg) ♒︎
- Projection (Pisces Файл:Pisces symbol (fixed width).svg) ♓︎
Units
Several symbols indicate units of time.
- Month 🝱 (Файл:Month symbol.svg) or Файл:Month XXX symbol.svg or xXx
- Day-Night 🝰 (Файл:Day-night symbol.svg)
- Hour 🝮 (Файл:Hour symbol.svg)
Gallery
A list of symbols published in 1931:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(all 6 plates, large file)
Unicode
Шаблон:Main article The Alchemical Symbols block was added to Unicode in 2010 as part of Unicode 6.0.[9] Шаблон:Unicode chart Alchemical Symbols
See also
Other symbols commonly used in alchemy and related esoteric traditions:
- Шаблон:Annotated link
- Шаблон:Annotated link
- Шаблон:Annotated link
- Шаблон:Annotated link
- Шаблон:Annotated link
- Шаблон:Annotated link
- Шаблон:Annotated link, as used by Hermetic theurgists
Footnotes
References
Works cited
External links
- wikt:Appendix:Unicode/Alchemical Symbols
- Alchemical symbols in Unicode 14.0
- ↑ Fritz Lüdy-Tenger (1928) Alchemistische und chemische Zeichen. Wolfgang Schneider (1962) Lexicon alchemistisch-pharmazeutischer Symbole covers many of the same symbols with a cross-index and indicates synonyms.
- ↑ Шаблон:Harvnb; cf. Шаблон:Harvnb. For the symbols, see Шаблон:Harvnb and Bergman's table as shown above.
- ↑ Шаблон:Harvnb.
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ 5,0 5,1 5,2 5,3 5,4 Шаблон:Harvnb
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Explanation of the Chimical Characters from Nicaise Le Febvre, A compleat body of chymistry, London, 1670.
- ↑ See Шаблон:Harvnb.
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web