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Posted By: Hydra Chatoyant - 02/05/07 12:27 PM
From the AWAD archives:

Quote:

chatoyant (shuh-TOI-uhnt) adjective Having a changeable luster like that of a cat's eye at night.



I understood this word to be a technical term from gemmery to mean, basically, having a stripe of different-coloured stone. Modern dictionaries (see below) don't mention the figurative sense.

Quote:

chatoyant adjective (of a gem, esp. when cut en cabochon) showing a band of bright reflected light caused by aligned inclusions in the stone. DERIVATIVES chatoyance noun chatoyancy noun.ORIGIN late 18th cent.: French, present participle of chatoyer ‘to shimmer.’

Posted By: tsuwm Re: Chatoyant - 02/05/07 01:03 PM


sh-toint
ADJECTIVE: Having a changeable luster.
NOUN: A chatoyant stone or gemstone, such as the cat's-eye.
ETYMOLOGY: French, present participle of chatoyer, to shimmer like cats' eyes, from chat, cat, from Vulgar Latin *cattus, perhaps of African origin.
OTHER FORMS: cha·toyan·cy —NOUN - AHD4 (a decidedly modern dictionary; see also MW-CD and others -- perhaps you were looking only at the noun form)
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