Latin

Noun

aurifex m ‎(genitive aurificis); third declension

1. A worker in gold, goldsmith.
   • 77-79 AD — Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 18.23

     acus vocatur cum per se pisitur spica tantum aurificum ad usus

     When the beard is ground by itself, without the grain, the result is known as acus, but it is only used by goldsmiths.

Inflection

Third declension.

Synonyms

• (goldsmith): aurārius

Derived terms

• aurificīna
• aurificium

Related terms

Descendants

• Catalan: orífex (borrowing)
• English: aurifex (borrowing)
• Italian: orefice
• Old Portuguese: ourivez
  • Galician: ourive
  • Portuguese: ourives
• Old Spanish: orebze
  • Spanish: orebce, oribe
• Portuguese: aurífice (borrowing)
• Spanish: orífice (borrowing)

References

• aurifex in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• aurifex in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• AURIFEX in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “aurifex”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.