330 BCE), whose work "On the Ocean" is lost, but was referenced by Pliny, according to whose Natural History (in what is also the earliest known mention of the name Germania): Theophrastus discussed amber in the 4th century BCE, as did Pytheas ( c. These words, and the Slavic jantar and Hungarian gyanta ('resin'), are thought to originate from Phoenician jainitar ("sea-resin"). In the Baltic languages, the Lithuanian term for amber is gintaras and the Latvian dzintars. The Low German term became dominant also in High German by the 18th century, thus modern German Bernstein besides Dutch barnsteen. In Middle Low German, amber was known as berne-, barn-, börnstēn (with etymological roots related to "burn" and to "stone" ). This is confirmed by the recorded Old High German word glas and by the Old English word glær for "amber" (compare glass). Pliny the Elder says that the German name of amber was glæsum, "for which reason the Romans, when Germanicus commanded the fleet in those parts, gave to one of these islands the name of Glæsaria, which by the barbarians was known as Austeravia". The word elektron gave rise to the words electric, electricity, and their relatives because of amber's ability to bear a charge of static electricity. According to myth, when Phaëton son of Helios (the Sun) was killed, his mourning sisters became poplar trees, and their tears became elektron, amber. The classical names for amber, Latin electrum and Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον ( ēlektron), are connected to a term ἠλέκτωρ ( ēlektōr) meaning "beaming Sun". Ambergris is less dense than water and floats, whereas amber is too dense to float, though less dense than stone. The two substances ("yellow amber" and "grey amber") conceivably became associated or confused because they both were found washed up on beaches. As the use of ambergris waned, this became the main sense of the word. At first called white or yellow amber ( ambre jaune), this meaning was adopted in English by the early 15th century. In the Romance languages, the sense of the word was extended to Baltic amber (fossil resin) from as early as the late 13th century. The word, in its sense of "ambergris," was adopted in Middle English in the 14th century. The word referred to what is now known as ambergris ( ambre gris or "grey amber"), a solid waxy substance derived from the sperm whale. The English word amber derives from Arabic ʿanbar عنبر (ultimately from Middle Persian ambar ) via Middle Latin ambar and Middle French ambre. Amber occurring in coal seams is also called resinite, and the term ambrite is applied to that found specifically within New Zealand coal seams. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Amber is used in jewelry and has been used as a healing agent in folk medicine. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects. Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times.
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