Metallurgical production in Northern Eurasia in the bronze age / Металлургическое производство в Северной Евразии в бронзовый век

Copper is the first metal which had really played a large part in human history. It is considered that Latin cuprus from which chemical name of copper originated was connected with the island of Cyprus, with the meaning ‘copper island’. But actually it is not so. The Greek word κύπρος has uncertain etymology. For copper the Greeks had a word ϗαλκός; the term “Chalcolithic” goes back to this word. Latin language had another word: aes. The combination aes cyprium meant “Cyprian copper”. Then cyprium was replaced by cuprum. All European words connected with it do not go back to a common Indo-European base. The Latin base is closer to them (Muhly 1973, p. 174, 175). <...>