Venus
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: alchemy
art
arts
chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
pseudoscience
Etymology: From Middle English Venus, from Latin Venus.
Inflected forms:
form: Venuses
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: Veneres
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Sexual activity or intercourse; sex; lust, love.
pos: noun
tags: poetic
uncountable
examples: Immoderate Venus in excess, as it is a cause, or in defect; so, moderately used, to some parties an only help, a present remedy.
gloss: Copper (a reddish-brown, malleable, ductile metallic element).
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
uncountable
examples: CRYSTALS of Venus or of copper, called also vitriol of Venus, is copper reduced into the form of vitriol by spirit of nitre, or by dissolving verdegris in good distilled vinegar, till the acid be saturated; it is very caustic and used to eat off proud flesh. It is also used by painters, and manufacturers, and sold under the name of distilled vinegar. See CHEMISTRY.
Another pair of terms which caused some confusion were Spirit of Saturn and Spirit of Venus, names suggesting compounds of lead and copper respectively. Jean Beguin described the preparation from minium and distilled vinegar of a liquid he called burning spirit of Saturn, because it was inflammable and he thought it was a compound of lead. Actually the lead takes no part in the reaction and the product of distilling lead acetate is impure acetone. Beguin’s terminology did not go without comment however, for Christopher Glaser later referred to ‘A burning Spirit of Saturn (as it is called) but rather, a Spirit of the Volatile Salt of Vinegar’. Tachenius referred to the product of distillation of copper acetate as ‘pretended spirit of Venus’ because it was really only distilled vinegar - the meaning which Macquer gave to the expression. It is typical of the confusion of terminology in early chemistry that the London Pharmacopoeia of 1721 gave the name Spiritus Veneris to sulphuric acid obtained by the distillation of copper sulphate.
The association of the heavenly bodies with known metals and also with human organs and destinies goes back to ancient Chaldea, the land of astrologers. In Chaucer’s words: ‘The seven bodies eek, lo hear anon. Sol gold is, and Luna silver we declare; Mars yron, Mercurie is quyksilver; Saturnian leed; and Jubitur is tyn, and Venus coper, by my fathers kyn.’ […] Corresponding names were bestowed upon salts of these metals by the alchemists, and some of them have persisted down to the present day. Some examples are lunar caustic (silver nitrate); vitriol of Venus (copper sulphate); sugar of Saturn (lead acetate); and vitriol of Mars, or Martial vitriol (ferrous sulphate).
gloss: Any depiction of an idealized or erotic figure of a nude woman, especially one in a mythological setting.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Their figures are universally models for brunette Venuses, and their feet arched like rainbows, and Cinderellan in size.
gloss: Any Upper Palaeolithic statuette portraying a woman, usually carved in the round.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: While the goddess statues obviously did function in a very public, domestic context, there is no evidence that they were androgynyous or that they were the primary cult of importance. There are probably just as many phalli in the Paleolithic as there are Venuses.
However, a number of well-crafted studies in recent years have forcefully questioned—and perhaps refuted—the view that the Venuses were simply or solely goddesses.
Her proportions, the stylistic elements, the choice of anatomical elements represented are characteristic of the Aurignacian or Gravettian Venuses, known especially from the statuary of Central and Eastern Europe.
Translations: