sulphur
English
Noun
sulphur (countable and uncountable, plural sulphurs)
- Alternative spelling of sulfur
- Any of various pierid butterflies of the subfamily Coliadinae, especially the sulphur coloured species. Compare yellow.
Derived terms
- Hot Sulphur Springs
- Owly sulphur, a type of owlfly
- sulphur-free
- sulphur spring
- Sulphur Springs
- western sulphur
- White Sulphur Springs
Verb
sulphur (third-person singular simple present sulphurs, present participle sulphuring, simple past and past participle sulphured)
- Alternative spelling of sulfur
Usage notes
- This is the traditional popular spelling in the UK and India, and an alternative spelling in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. However, it is considered non-standard in scientific contexts, as the IUPAC has only approved the spelling sulfur.[1]
References
- Nature Chemistry 1, 333 (2009). doi:10.1038/nchem.301
Anagrams
- uphurls
Latin
Alternative forms
- sulpur (archaic)
- sulfur (late-Classical)
Etymology
From a Hellenisation of earlier sulpur, from the root *selp- (“fat, oil”). Cognate with English salve, Sanskrit सर्पिस् (sarpís, “cleaned melted butter”), सृप्र (sṛprá, “greasy, smooth”), Tocharian B ṣalype (“ointment”), and perhaps ἔλπος (élpos, “?olive oil, fat”) or Ancient Greek ὄλπη (ólpē, “flask for oil”).
According to De Vaan citing Szemerényi,[1] perhaps from an s-stem Proto-Indo-European *sélpos. However, De Vaan finds both the -él- > -ól- and -os > -ur changes to be irregular (for -ol- > -ul- see sulcus), adding that perhaps it comes from Proto-Italic *solpor, from an r/n-stem Proto-Indo-European *sólpr̥ instead.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈsul.pʰur/, [ˈs̠ʊɫ̪pʰʊr]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈsul.fur/, [ˈsulfur]
Noun
sulphur n (genitive sulphuris); third declension
- sulfur, brimstone
- lightning
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | sulphur | sulphura |
| Genitive | sulphuris | sulphurum |
| Dative | sulphurī | sulphuribus |
| Accusative | sulphur | sulphura |
| Ablative | sulphure | sulphuribus |
| Vocative | sulphur | sulphura |
Descendants
- Balkan Romance:
- Aromanian: scljifur
- Romanian: sulf
- Italo-Romance:
- Italian: zolfo, solfo (dated)
- Sicilian: sùrfuru
- Padanian:
- Emilian: solfar, suifre
- Friulian: solfar
- Lombard: solfor, solfer, sofrec
- Alpine: sofri, solfri, sofric
- Piedmontese: sofro, sorfo, solfo
- Romansch: zulper
- Venetian: solfer, sólfaro, solfare, solfar
- Northern Gallo-Romance:
- Old Northern French: sulfre
- Anglo-Norman: sulfre
- → English: sulfur, sulphur
- → Malay: sulfur / سولفور
- → English: sulfur, sulphur
- Anglo-Norman: sulfre
- Franco-Provençal: sopro, sofro
- Old French: soufre, soffre
- French: soufre
- Old Northern French: sulfre
- Southern Gallo-Romance:
- Aragonese: xufre, ixufre
- Ribagorçan: eixufre
- Catalan: sofre
- Occitan: sofre
- Auvergnat: siupre, supre
- Languedocien: solpre, siupre
- Limousin: siufre
- Provençal: soupre, sopre, soufre
- Vivaro-Alpine: sòupre, sopre, siupre
- Aragonese: xufre, ixufre
- Ibero-Romance:
- Old Portuguese: suffre
- Galician: xofre
- Portuguese: enxofre
- Old Spanish: sufre
- → Basque: sufre
- Spanish: azufre
- Old Portuguese: suffre
- Insular Romance:
- Sardinian: súlfaru, súlfuru, súrfuru
- Borrowings:
- → Albanian: squfuri, sulfur
- → Catalan: sulfur
- → English: sulfur, sulphur
- → Welsh: sylffwr
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
- “sulphur”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “sulphur”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Middle English
Alternative forms
- sulphre, sulphure, sulphour, sulpher, sulpur, sulfur, sulfurre, sulfer, soulphre, soulfre, solfre, soufur, soufre
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman sulfre, from Latin sulfur.
Noun
sulphur (plural sulphurs)
- sulfur
Descendants
- English: sulphur, sulfur
References
- “sulphur, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.