elvan
English
Etymology 1
From a Cornish word,[3] perhaps Cornish elven, elvan (“spark”)[4][5] because the hard rock could be struck to spark fire.[6]
Adjective
elvan (comparative more elvan, superlative most elvan)
- (mining) Of or relating to certain veins of feldspathic or porphyritic rock crossing metalliferous veins in the mining districts of Cornwall.
- an elvan course
Noun
elvan (countable and uncountable, plural elvans)
Adjective
Synonyms
- see list in elven
Translations
elven — see elven
References
- “elvan”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- Robert Hunter, The Encyclopaedic Dictionary: A New and Original Work of Reference (1901)
- James Stormonth, Etymological and Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, William Blackwood and Sons (1879), page 174, under the entry “elf”: “elvan, a. ĕlv'-ăn, same as elfish”
- “elvan”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “elvan”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- Thomas Davidson, Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language (1907)
- Handbook for travellers in Cornwall (1879), John Murray (publishers), page 25
- Frederick William Pearce Jago, An English-Cornish Dictionary: Compiled from the Best Sources (1887), entry "STONE": "A very hard stone which will strike fire is called elvan. Borlase says elven means a spark of fire."
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