Editing Orpiment (section)

== Etymology ==
The Latin ''auripigmentum'' (''aurum'', "gold" + ''pigmentum'', "[[pigment]]") referred both to its deep-yellow color and to the historical belief that it was thought to contain gold. The Latin term was used by [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] in the first century CE.{{Cn|date=April 2023}}

The Greek for orpiment was ''arsenikon'', deriving from the Greek word ''arsenikos'', meaning "male", from the belief that metals were of different sexes. This Greek term was used by [[Theophrastus]] in the fourth century BC.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Fitzhugh |first=Elizabeth West |title=Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Volume 3 |publisher=Archetype Publications |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-904982-76-0 |location=Washington |pages=48–70 |chapter=Orpiment and Realgar}}</ref>

The Chinese term for orpiment is ''Ci-Huang'' (in Pinyin), meaning "female yellow".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Schafer |first=Edward H. |date=1955 |title=Orpiment and Realgar in Chinese Technology and Tradition |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/595009 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=73–89 |doi=10.2307/595009 |jstor=595009 |issn=0003-0279|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Persian for orpiment is ''zarnikh'', deriving from the word "''zar"'', the Persian for gold.{{Cn|date=April 2023}}