Note 373 — Chapter VI · THE PROTO-SIDERIC OR EARLY IRON AGE OF WEAPONS.
Reading edition
Mr. Day (
General Table of Terms
, given at end of this chapter) quotes as ‘oldest Sanskrit’ two names of iron,
आर
(
ár
or
ára
), meaning the planet Mars (
Ares
) or Saturn; iron (oxide of iron, ironstone?), brass (copper?); and
अयस्
,
áyas
(whence
ayaskant
, a loadstone, and
ayaskár
, a smith), a word already noticed in connection with
æs
. But Mr. Day adds to his ‘oldest Sanskrit’ ‘probably
b.c.
1500’; and here again we recognise the master-touch of the subtle race—
‘for profound And solid lying much renowned.’