Ok, so it’s a prefix, not a whole word. But it’s such a pretty one – or is it?
Chrys- or chryso-
means “gold”, from the Greek chrysos, gold. Hence King Croesus, who was granted a wish that everything he touched would turn to gold. Which you might think would be good; he obviously did. Then he touched his daughter. And his food. And water… Why do the sprites who offer to grant wishes never give the wisher time to think things through? These things so seldom end well.
Chryso- is also, I guess, the root of Chrysler, famous American car manufacturers and owners (still?) of the wonderful Chrysler building in New York.
A chrysalis or chrysalid (which can use any one of three plurals, chrysalids, chrysalises or chrysalides, by the way) is the gold pupa of a butterfly. It may look brown or buff to you, but don’t be fooled. And, given what’s happening inside a butterfly’s pupa, gold is only just good enough.
Chrysanthemums should obviously come in only one colour (anthemon is Greek for “flower”). Maybe they originally did; many still have golden centres, at least. But why did chrysanths get the “gold” tag and not, say, wallflowers, which are prettier and smell much pleasanter?
Several gemstones and minerals have the chryso- prefix. Chrysoberyl is a greeny-yellow or gold coloured mineral, beryllium aluminate. Another is chrysolite, which is yellow or green olivine, used as a gemstone.
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Chrysoberyl
And then there’s chrysoprase, a green variety of chalcedony, also polished up as a gemstone. Even asbestos can be made to sound pretty: chrysotile is a fibrous variety of serpentine, which is a form of asbestos.
One for our times is chrysocracy, better known as plutocracy: rule by the rich. And I don’t mean our current old-Etonian Conservative leadership version of rich, as in “comfortably well-heeled”; I mean ri-i-ich. Why the tabloids always seem to call very rich Russians “oligarchs”, I’ve never understood. Oligarchy means “rule by the few” – those few may also be rich, of course – and most Russian oligarchs seems to have fallen out with Putin and live away from Russia, so they’re not ruling. Rich enough to own a football club, but not ruling a country.
A chrysophilite is a lover of gold; plenty of them about today, too and they’re not a new phenomenon. A true chrysophilite does everything for money, which argues deep cynicism and total selfishness, so probably not the sort of person you’d keep on your Christmas card list very long. They’re the “Greed is good” guys, of whom other people say “The love of money is the root of all evil”. Not nice.
On which cheery note I’ll say good bye ’til tomorrow. If you know any chrysophilites, stay safe; if you have any chrysoprase comment below.
