alabarch (alabark)

[L. a lab arches, more correctly arab arches, Philo, the principal of the Jewish emba age,. brother to Alexander the alabarch . Whiston, tr. of Joseph us, Antiq., xviii. 8. alabaster (al'a-bås-tèr), n . and a. [Early mod. E. usually alablaster , all a blaster , alabastre , alabaster, alabaustre, alabast (= OD. alabast , abast , D. albast = Dan. alabast = Sw. albaster , now alabaster ), alabastre , F. albatre = Sp. Pg. It. alabastro = MHG. G. alabaster , ala bastrum, alabaustrum , alabaster (the mineral), alabaster , m., a lab a strum , neut., a box or casket for perfumes, unguents, etc., tapering to a point at the top, hence also the form of a rose-bud, Goth. alabalstraun , αλάβαστρον , ηeut., earlier and more correctly ἀλάβαστος , a box, casket, or vase of alabaster (later also of other materials), the mineral itself being hence known as άλαβαστίτης or άλαβαστρίτης, L. a lab as trites (see a lab as trites ); said to be named from a town in Egypt where there were quarries of alabaster; but in fact the town was named from the quarries, Ἀλαβαστρῶν πόλις (Ptolemy), L. A lab a str on oppidum , i. e., tives, as in oral [ alis , os ( or- ), mouth], manual [L. manu - alis , manu - s , hand), etc.: in this use equivalent to -ar , of the same ultimate origin, as in alar , polar , both forms occurring with a differentiation of meaning in lin eal , linear (which see). (b) Secondary from primary adjectives, as in equal [ æqualis , æqu - us , equal], whence in English -al is now applied to Latin adjectives ending in -e- us , -i - us , -u - us , -rn-us, -i-s, -ic- us , etc., to give them a distinctive English form, as in aerial , senatorial , perpetual , eternal, celestial , medical , etc., and similarly to Greek ad jectives in -ικός, -ακ-ός, -οειδής (English-ic, -ac, -oid ), etc., as in musical , heliacal , rhomboidal , etc.; hence in some cases a differentiation of meaning, as in comic and comical , historic and historical , etc. (c) Nouns from such adjec tives, as in animal , rival , etc. (d) Nouns from verbs in English after the analogy of espousal , as in denial , pro posal, refusal , etc., and even from native English verbs, as in bestowal , betrothal , withdrawal , etc. 'town of alabastra.' In Ar. and Pers. alabaster is called rukhām .] I. n. 11. A box, casket, or vase made of alabaster. See a lab a strum . 2. A marble-like mineral of which there are two well-known varieties, the gypseous and the calcareous. The former is a crystalline granular variety of sulphate of calcium or gypsum, CaSO4.2H2O. It is of various colors, as yellow, red, and gray, but is most esteemed when pure white. Being soft, it can be formed by the lathe or knife into small works of art, as vases, statuettes, etc. For this purpose the snow-white, fine-grained variety found near Florence in Italy is especially prized. Calcareous or Oriental alabaster (the a lab as trites of the ancients) is a variety of carbonate of calcium or calcite, occurring as a stalactite or stalagmite in caverns of lime stone rocks. alabaster II. a. Made of alabaster, or resembling it: as, "an alabaster column," Add is on , Travels in Italy. Alabaster gla , an opaque enamel or gla made in imitation of alabaster.