Word: Vulcan Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English Vulcan, Vulcanus, Wlcan, from Old English Ulcanus (genitive), from Classical Latin Vulcānus, probably from Etruscan although very unclear, but unknown meaning and further origin (see more in Latin entry). Doublet of bolcane and volcano. Etymology 1, proper noun sense 2.5 (“hypothetical planet”) is a semantic loan from French Vulcan, coined by French physicist, mathematician and astronomer Jacques Babinet in 1846, who proposed this name after the god for a planet close to the Sun. Noun senses etymology 1 1 (“blacksmith; metalworker”), etymology 1 2 (“one who is lame”), and etymology 1 3 (“fire”) are allusions to Vulcan as the god of fire and metalworking and his lameness. Compare Middle French Vulcan (“blacksmith; metalworker”), also attested in early modern French meaning “fire” in apparently isolated use. Etymology 1, noun sense 4 (“volcano”) is from Middle English wlcane, originally after Middle French Vulcan, wlcan, and chiefly after Spanish volcán in subsequent use, ultimately arising from Latin Vulcānus and Italian Vulcano as a name for Mount Etna and one or more of the Aeolian Islands (with active volcanoes on the islands now called Vulcano and Stromboli), probably after Arabic بُرْكَان (burkān, “volcano”), ultimately reflecting the Latin and Italian place names. Pronunciation: /ˈvʌlkən/ 1. A blacksmith; a metalworker. Labels: countable Example: How ſay you fryer Robert, out of what foꝛge came theſe warlike engins? they were hammered in Salamanca the ſeuenth day of March, 1602. and are as you ſee, read hote. But what Vulcan was the woꝛkeman of them? Example: Cingis-chan (as Haithon and others ſay, his contemporaries) was at firſt by profeſſion a Vulcan or Black-ſmith, by condition a good honeſt ſimple man: […] 2. One who is lame (unable to walk properly), especially with a twisted or otherwise misshapen leg. Labels: archaic, countable Example: To make you merry that are the Gods of Art, and guides vnto heauen, a number of rude Vulcans, vnweldy ſpeakers, hammer-headed clownes (for ſo it pleaſeth them in modeſtie to name themſelues) haue ſet their deformities to view, as it were in a daunce here before you. Example: And therefore ſo many, who are ſiniſtrous unto Good Actions, are Ambi-dexterous unto bad, and Vulcans in virtuous Paths, Achilleſes in vitious motions. 3. Fire; a fire. Labels: countable, literary, obsolete, uncountable Example: Comme vn foible Vulcan, que la troupe frilleuſe / Des paſteurs laiſſe cheoir dans l’orée fueilleuſe / D’vne vaſte foreſt, ſe tient coy quelque tems, / Eſleuant des nuaux fumeuſement flottans / Sur vn humble buiſſon: puis aydé par Zephire / Fait voye rougiſſant aux efforts de ſon ire: / Monte du bas hallier au flairant Aubeſpin, […] Example: [Ὅ]ταν δὲ τὸν ἄνδρα τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἠφανισμένον ἐν θαλάττῃ καὶ μὴ τυχόντα νομίμου ταφῆς θρηνῶν λέγῃ μετριώτερον ἂν τὴν συμφορὰν ἐνεγκεῖν / Εἰ κείνου κεφαλὴν καὶ χαρίεντα μέλεα / Ἥφαιστος καθαροῖσιν ἐν εἵμασιν ἀμφεπονήθη, / τὸ πῦρ οὕτως, οὐ τὸν θεὸν προσηγόρευσε. 4. A volcano. Labels: countable, obsolete Example: Mas de los fuegos, que ay en Bolcanes de Indias, que tienen digna conſideracion, diraſe commodamente, quando ſe trate de la diuerſidad de tierras, donde eſſos fuegos, y bolcanes ſe hallan. Example: Some think that this was a hill, on the top whereof were Lions and Vulcans of fire, about the middle was paſture and Goats, at the foot Serpents, which Bellerophon made habitable: […]